Defeated with the presidential election, in bad shape for the legislative elections, the right party is at the worst. Names already circulate for his future recovery, including those of Eric Ciotti, Laurent Wauquiez or Rachida Dati.
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A battle can hide another. Within the Les Républicains Party (LR), the one that is preparing today after the resounding failure of Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election is, of course, the campaign for the legislative elections, during which nearly 80 outgoing deputies must Defend their seats on June 12 and 19. But, behind the scenes, some are already thinking about another confrontation: that for the president of the party. Elected in 2019 at the head of the right formation, the deputy of Seine-et-Marne Christian Jacob warned, some time ago that he would spend the keys of the ship after the legislative elections.
A liner that the elected official will have tried to maintain afloat, as best they can, but which takes the water from all sides. A situation so perilous that the very question of LR’s survival, a throbbing fear among executives, is now posing. How can we consider a future for a former structuring training in French political life, but today unable to make a sufficient score for the presidential election to be reimbursed for its campaign costs? How to think a future anyway the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, a tutelary figure of the right, seems to have deserted the ship and that the legislative elections promise to be impossible? What political space to occupy when the electoral chessboard seems to be cut into three distinct blocks gravitating around Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon?
“chemically pure” line
There are some, however, to want to take up the challenge. If none has been formally declared – the calendar has not yet lent itself to it – several names circulate with insistence. Thus, that of the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti. Arrived at the top in the first round of the primary for the presidential election, organized by LR in December 2021, with 25.6 % of the votes, Mr. Ciotti would aims to take the side or the presidency of the future LR group in the National Assembly. Defender of a “chemically pure” right line independent of the executive and Emmanuel Macron, he would be in line with the political aspirations of the majority of party members.
In this niche from the right of the party, others would also see Laurent Wauquiez launched. A non-aggression pact would have even been concluded between the two men, suggesting that, if the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region wanted to take the training, Mr. Ciotti would not put himself in his way. Many also note an attitude of “appeasement” at Mr. Wauquiez. It seems far away when, vilified for its authoritarian management and for its right line, the former president of LR had to resign, after the Europeans of 2019.
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