Following its poor performance in European elections, the head of France's conservative Les Republicains Laurent Wauquiez announced his withdrawal from party leadership late on Sunday.
"I don't want to be an obstacle," the 44-year-old said on French broadcaster TF1 and on Twitter, announcing he was retiring as president of the Republicans, France's main opposition party.
The announcement came a week after his conservative party plummeted to 8.5 per cent of the vote and 8 seats in EU-wide elections, which saw the Rassemblement National party of right-wing populist Marine Le Pen become the strongest force.
Wauquiez, whose party once controlled the Elysee Palace from 2007 to 2012 under then president Nicolas Sarkozy, has taken the brunt of the criticism from party members over its poor European election performance.
The once-powerful right-wing party has been seeking a new course since the victory of social-liberal Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 presidential election.
Please click to read our informative text prepared pursuant to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 and to get information about the cookies used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation.
6698 sayılı Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu uyarınca hazırlanmış aydınlatma metnimizi okumak ve sitemizde ilgili mevzuata uygun olarak kullanılan çerezlerle ilgili bilgi almak için lütfen tıklayınız.