A Movement Born from Frustration
By 2016, Emmanuel Macron was a restless minister in a faltering Socialist government. His liberalizing “Macron 2” reform package had been watered down and largely blocked. Tensions with President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls were rising.
Rather than fight inside the party, Macron did something audacious: he founded his own. In April 2016, in his hometown of Amiens, he launched En Marche—a new centrist, pro‑European, social‑liberal movement, neither left nor right, built around his own persona.
Media Magnet and Lightning Rod
En Marche was instantly news. Major newspapers such as L’Express, Les Échos and L’Opinion began to focus heavily on Macron and his fledgling organization. Critics on both the far-left and far-right accused him of being the darling of media owners and marketing gurus.
Mediapart counted more than fifty magazine covers dedicated to Macron. The TV channel BFM was said to have given him more airtime than all other leading candidates combined. Opponents called him the “media candidate”, and pro‑Macron voices in the press were dubbed “Macronites”.
Yet this coverage had an effect: it made a brand-new movement feel inevitable.
Fundraising Like a Start‑Up
En Marche operated more like a tech start‑up than a traditional party. By December 2016, Macron’s campaign had raised €3.7 million—triple the budget of established figure Alain Juppé. He hosted dinners and meetings with cultural and media personalities while still at the Economy Ministry, moves that later drew scrutiny but remained within legal bounds.
The message was clear: this was not an underfunded outsider’s crusade. En Marche could compete financially with France’s political heavyweights.
Refusing the Old Rules
As his movement grew, Macron refused to be folded back into the Socialist machine. Asked to compete in the Socialist primary, he declined. The party leadership even threatened to expel members who cooperated with him.
But key figures began to defect: Lyon’s mayor Gérard Collomb, centrist leader François Bayrou, and others from both left and center-right came out in support. En Marche became a magnet for those disillusioned with the traditional blocs.
A Campaign Like a Product Launch
With marketing titan Maurice Lévy backing slick strategies, Macron’s campaign was run as though launching a high-end brand. Yet for months he delayed unveiling a detailed platform, drawing attacks even from allies. Only in March 2017 did he release a 150‑page program and defend it in a marathon press conference.
Despite this, momentum kept building—helped by scandals engulfing conservative rival François Fillon. Macron’s centrist message, combined with the implosion of older parties, pushed him into first place in the first round of the 2017 presidential election, and victory over Marine Le Pen in the second.
From Movement to Majority
The transformation didn’t end with the presidency. In the legislative elections that followed, his movement—now renamed La République En Marche! (LREM)—and its ally MoDem captured an outright majority in the National Assembly.
In just over a year, En Marche went from non‑existent to dominant, collapsing the traditional left‑right axis and ushering in a fragmented, volatile party system.
The rise of En Marche posed a deep question for democracies everywhere: when politics begins to work like a start‑up, with leaders as brands and parties as platforms, can old institutions keep up?