section_path: History/Foundation
section_name: Foundation
paragraph_text: Foundation
  
  La Gauche Libre, the think tank for the movement, was declared as an organization on 1 March 2015. Afterwards, lesjeunesavecmacron.fr was registered as a domain on 23 June 2015. Eventually, two Facebook pages were created and an extra domain registered. Another organization was eventually created by Macron, declared as L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique and registered as a micro-party in January 2016. This was following en-marche.fr being claimed as a domain. L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique was then registered as EMA EN MARCHE in March 2016.
  
  En Marche! was established on 6 April 2016 in Amiens by Emmanuel Macron, then aged 38, with the help of political advisor Ismaël Emelien. The initials of the name of the party are the same as the initials of Macron's name.
  
  The announcement of En Marche! was the first indication by Macron that he was planning to run for President, with Macron using En Marche! to fundraise for the potential presidential run. The launch of the party was widely covered throughout the media and media coverage continued to peak as tensions rose among Macron and other government ministers as his loyalty was questioned. In the weeks following the creation of En Marche!, Macron soared in the opinion polls, coming to be seen as the main competitor on the left.
  
  The creation of En Marche! was welcomed by several political figures including Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Pierre Gattaz, although it was also criticised by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Christian Estrosi.
  
  In an attempt to create the party's first campaign platform, Macron and head of operations Ludovic Chaker recruited 4,000 volunteers to conduct door-to-door surveys of 100,000 people, using the information gained to create a programme closer to the French electorate.
  
  Later that year, Chaker structured the movement and became the first general secretary of Emmanuel Macron's party En Marche! and its first official employee. He was then appointed as deputy general secretary and coordinator of Macron's campaign operations for the 2017 French presidential election.
  
  La Gauche Libre, the think tank for the movement, was declared as an organization on 1 March 2015. Afterwards, lesjeunesavecmacron.fr was registered as a domain on 23 June 2015. Eventually, two Facebook pages were created and an extra domain registered. Another organization was eventually created by Macron, declared as L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique and registered as a micro-party in January 2016. This was following en-marche.fr being claimed as a domain. L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique was then registered as EMA EN MARCHE in March 2016.
  
  En Marche! was established on 6 April 2016 in Amiens by Emmanuel Macron, then aged 38, with the help of political advisor Ismaël Emelien. The initials of the name of the party are the same as the initials of Macron's name.
  
  The announcement of En Marche! was the first indication by Macron that he was planning to run for President, with Macron using En Marche! to fundraise for the potential presidential run. The launch of the party was widely covered throughout the media and media coverage continued to peak as tensions rose among Macron and other government ministers as his loyalty was questioned. In the weeks following the creation of En Marche!, Macron soared in the opinion polls, coming to be seen as the main competitor on the left.
  
  The creation of En Marche! was welcomed by several political figures including Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Pierre Gattaz, although it was also criticised by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Christian Estrosi.
  
  In an attempt to create the party's first campaign platform, Macron and head of operations Ludovic Chaker recruited 4,000 volunteers to conduct door-to-door surveys of 100,000 people, using the information gained to create a programme closer to the French electorate.
  
  Later that year, Chaker structured the movement and became the first general secretary of Emmanuel Macron's party En Marche! and its first official employee. He was then appointed as deputy general secretary and coordinator of Macron's campaign operations for the 2017 French presidential election.
  
  La Gauche Libre, the think tank for the movement, was declared as an organization on 1 March 2015. Afterwards, lesjeunesavecmacron.fr was registered as a domain on 23 June 2015. Eventually, two Facebook pages were created and an extra domain registered. Another organization was eventually created by Macron, declared as L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique and registered as a micro-party in January 2016. This was following en-marche.fr being claimed as a domain. L'Association pour le renouvellement de la vie politique was then registered as EMA EN MARCHE in March 2016.
  
  En Marche! was established on 6 April 2016 in Amiens by Emmanuel Macron, then aged 38, with the help of political advisor Ismaël Emelien. The initials of the name of the party are the same as the initials of Macron's name.
  
  The announcement of En Marche! was the first indication by Macron that he was planning to run for President, with Macron using En Marche! to fundraise for the potential presidential run. The launch of the party was widely covered throughout the media and media coverage continued to peak as tensions rose among Macron and other government ministers as his loyalty was questioned. In the weeks following the creation of En Marche!, Macron soared in the opinion polls, coming to be seen as the main competitor on the left.
  
  The creation of En Marche! was welcomed by several political figures including Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Pierre Gattaz, although it was also criticised by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Christian Estrosi.
  
  In an attempt to create the party's first campaign platform, Macron and head of operations Ludovic Chaker recruited 4,000 volunteers to conduct door-to-door surveys of 100,000 people, using the information gained to create a programme closer to the French electorate.
  
  Later that year, Chaker structured the movement and became the first general secretary of Emmanuel Macron's party En Marche! and its first official employee. He was then appointed as deputy general secretary and coordinator of Macron's campaign operations for the 2017 French presidential election.