The deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes has always been firm on the sovereign issues and the Senator of Vendée comes from Villiériste and Fillonist conservatism.
by Matthew Goar
The right will therefore know again a campaign of Entre-deux-Tours. Sunday, December 4, around 6 p.m., the acting president of the Les Républicains (LR) party Annie Genevard called one by one the three candidates for the presidency of the movement to announce the results. With 42.73 % of the votes, Eric Ciotti leads to Bruno Retailleau (34.45 %) which he will face on Sunday, December 11. The youngest of competition, Aurélien Pradié, deputy for the Lot, harvested 22.29 % of the votes. “The results largely place me in the lead in a ballot which was inhabited by the suspense (…) There was a serene and disputed competition,” said the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes.
Even if this first round is good news for LR which showed some signs of vitality (72.67 % participation on 91,109 registered), Eric Ciotti could have hoped for better. A few weeks ago, many of his relatives thought that a victory on the first Sunday was possible. Several facts disrupted his campaign, including the opening of a preliminary investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office concerning her ex-wife, Caroline Magne, who would have accumulated several jobs in the Assembly, in Nice and the Department.
But it is above all his desire not to make waves, his more peaceful tone which undoubtedly cost him precious voices within an increasingly straight electorate. “A few weeks ago, even a few days, we were telling usfully that everything was already played. A little more than 5,000 votes separate me from Eric Ciotti, so everything is playable,” analyzed Bruno Retailleau on Sunday evening.
turn the page of the past
In view of the results, LR activists have confirmed their desire to install their party on a hard positioning. Eric Ciotti has always been very firm on sovereign issues, while Bruno Retailleau, from Villiériste conservatism, was the campaign director of François Fillon in 2017. He recently opposed the constitutionalization of abortion. To convince the voters of Mr. Pradié, the two finalists have no intention of amending their program in the coming days.
Because, even if the third man comes from a more social right, he also strengthened his proposals in the last days of the campaign by evoking the idea of prohibiting the wearing of the veil in public space. Sunday, Mr. Ciotti therefore called for the “but on my line” rally and Mr. Retailleau spoke of the imperative to have “a clearly right line”.
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