France's Macron names half of parliamentary candidates from civil society

French President elect Emmanuel Macron attends a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the abolition of slavery and to pay tribute to the victims of the slave trade at the Jardins du Luxembourg in Paris, France, May 10, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/Pool

PARIS (Reuters) - French President elect Emmanuel Macron on Thursday fulfilled his promise to draw half of the candidates for his Republic on the Move party for June legislative elections from civil society . The party, which had never fought an election until it propelled Macron to the presidency on May 7, also kept a pledge to have a balance of male and female candidates in an announcement by party secretary general Richard Ferrand at a news conference. It named 214 of each sex in a preliminary list of 428 candidates. Ferrand, who said the rest of the candidates it would put up in France's 577 constituencies were still a matter for discussion, added that the party was determined to achieve a working majority in parliament. "We want to build a majority for change and therefore obtain for La Republique en Marche an absolute majority in the national assembly." (Reporting by Michel Rose; Writing by Andrew Callus; Editing by Ingrid Melander)