Ex-French prime minister Manuel Valls has said France's Socialist party "is dead" and he wants to run under the banner of President-elect Emmanuel Macron's political movement in June's parliamentary elections.
The 39-year-old has also promised that half of candidates in winnable seats will be women.
Macron's party now has no seats in parliament.
The party's first secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis said "a procedure is ongoing". "It will be done in mutual understanding", he said.
On Sunday, France held the run-off of the presidential election between independent Emmanuel Macron, the leader of the "En Marche!" movement, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front far-right movement. "He has been reporting on the French election from the start and has had direct access to Macron and many on his team, making him perfectly positioned to get to the bottom of who Macron is, and what he might plausibly achieve as president of France".
On Wednesday, Macron turned down former socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls, saying he did not fit the "criteria" as his plans were not to "recycle" politicians. Macron's 577 candidates are expected to be announced Thursday and Macron himself will be sworn in on Sunday. Party spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Valls had not applied to the party's selection committee and had 24 hours left to do so.
The losers of the presidential election are aiming to capitalise on a general lack of enthusiasm for the pro- business Macron - whom many voters backed exclusively to bar Le Pen - to bounce back in the parliamentary vote.
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Think about it, it's nearly - what is it, 11? Because Donald Trump doesn't care about free speech. "He tweets at 3 AM... sober". No one one wanted to do this, so, of course, it falls in the hands of an immigrant. "That's how it always goes down".
Macron's camp has not embraced Valls, however.
"I will be a candidate in the presidential majority and I wish to join up to his [Macron's] movement", the former prime minister told RTL radio.
After the excitement of winning simmers, Macron's task on overcoming two challenges needs to be swiftly attended- first, the President-elect has to form a cohesive cabinet that reflects his campaign promises on renovating French political life.
But Le Pen's historic score of 33.9 per cent, or 10.6 million votes, showed the far right to be a formidable force in a country wracked by concern over immigration, national identity and globalisation.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has also followed up his congratulations to Mr Macron with an appeal for him to cut public spending.
So will we see a new France and what does his victory mean for Europe?





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