Macron's Party Elects Government Spokesman to Leadership Post

(Bloomberg) -- The French government’s spokesman, Christophe Castaner, took the helm of Emmanuel Macron’s party Saturday, after an election in Lyon.

The election of Castaner, a junior minister in charge of relations with parliament, could trigger a cabinet reshuffle. His new party role is seen as mostly honorary, as Macron -- who created La Republique en Marche in April 2016 as a bipartisan movement -- remains the leading voice in the party. At the time of its creation, Macron was minister of the economy under socialist President Francois Hollande.

“I’m very proud and honored to have been elected General Delegate of La Republique en Marche,” Castaner, 51, said on Twitter. “I will commit to our movement.”

Still, Castaner, a former socialist, signaled his reluctance at taking the helm of the party. “I don’t want to be the chief, I want to be an organizer,” he told Le Parisien.

Earlier this week, about 100 members of LREM said they would leave, criticizing what they said is a lack of freedom of speech and opinion within the group. LREM says it has 380,000 members.

Castaner was elected for three years by the party’s national council, with members raising their hands behind closed doors in Lyon Saturday. He was the only candidate to run. The vote was unanimous, LREM said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tara Patel at tpatel2@bloomberg.net, Chris Reiter at creiter2@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Amanda Jordan

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