An unexpected second round for the inauguration of the presidential candidate of the conservative party Los Republicanos. Liberal Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, will face radical Éric Ciotti, MP for the Alpes-Maritimes region. Xavier Bertrand, who started as a favorite but was ranked fourth, called, like the other outgoing candidates, to vote for Pécresse in the second round, which takes place this weekend.
This Thursday, December 2, was a day of surprises for the conservative French Republican party (LR, ‘Les Républicains’ in French). The result of the first round to elect the candidate for next year’s presidential elections culminated in an unexpected leader: Éric Ciotti, current deputy from the Alpes-Maritimes region, with 25.59% of the grassroots support. Nearby was Valérie Pécresse, current president of the Ile-de-France regional council, with 25%. Both will compete in the second round of the primary to achieve the nomination.
Although an uncertain internship was foreshadowed by the wave of new affiliates joining LR, the latest Harris Interactive poll for Challenges released Tuesday, following the latest debate among the five applicants, placed Ciotti in fourth place of intention. voting, with just a projected 6%. Pécresse, on the other hand, was second in the forecasts.
The favorite in the polls, Xavier Bertrand, current leader of the Haute-France regional council, was eliminated with 22.36% of the votes, ranking just behind Michel Barnier (23.93%), former Foreign Minister and former chief European negotiator for Brexit. In fifth position, and with only 3.13% of support, Philippe Juvin, a former member of the European Parliament, finished.
In a tweet, almost an hour after the announcement of the results, Xavier Bertrand thanked “the supporters” of the party who gave him “their confidence.” He also announced that “for the second round I will vote for Valérie Pécresse and I call to unite behind her.”
The result of this first round is a strong disavowal for Xavier Bertrand, who had left LR in 2017 and, in principle, had refused to participate in the congress, a position that he discarded in October of this year to avoid, according to him, a division of forces from the right and the center.
“I have made a great campaign, around the Gaullist line, which is mine,” he told reporters. “Tomorrow morning I will be in my region, I will defend the interests of my region,” he said, when asked about his political future.
The rank and file put the candidate of the most radical wing of the Republicans at the head
The one who reaches the second round of the Republicans as the leader of the preferences is Éric Ciotti, representative of the hardest side of the formation. The 56-year-old politician, former ‘Mr. Security ‘of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP, as the current LR was known in the past), is in favor of the right wing of the “national preference” and is in favor of the inclusion of the “Judeo-Christian origins” of France in the Constitution. From the beginning of the primary, he had presented himself as “the only one who can beat” the current president, Emmanuel Macron.
From a Parisian cafe, he expressed himself with joy at his result. According to the French media Le Monde, Ciotti said he was “deeply convinced” that LR would only win by “resolutely turning his back on prudence and immobility” and only behind him, “the only candidate who can unite all the voters of the right, wherever they’re from, like Nicolas Sarkozy did in 2007. “
This close to former French president Sarkozy, had supported the frontrunner François Fillon during the primaries of the right and the center in 2016, before his wife’s fictitious employment scandal that forced him to withdraw from political life. Those political approaches would have earned him points during the last televised debates.
Voted by the most radical and still predominantly Sarkozist base, Ciotti defends a right “of ruptures”, “a strong right, that assumes itself, that no longer apologizes or bows its head.” Close to the ideas of the extreme right, the finalist did not hide that he would vote for the far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour – convicted of provocation to racial hatred – if a second presidential round between Zemmour and Macron was presented in 2022. “I did not vote for Macron in 2017 and I will not vote for someone who has brought France to its knees, “said the deputy, who assured that he will fight” for France to remain France. “
As proof of their ideological closeness, Zemmour greeted his political friend’s victory on Twitter. “I am glad, dear Eric, that our ideas are so widely shared by the LR militants. The RPR (predecessor of the UMP and LR ) is not dead, “wrote the recently launched presidential candidate.
Referring to Pécresse, his rival in the second round, the sarkozista considered it “too centrist, too close to macronism”, so “it will not allow us in any way to beat the outgoing president.” At the same time, he pointed out that he “had never left” his in-laws, as she did in 2019 after a defeat in the European parliament elections, and then returned in October, as did Xavier Bertrand.
Pécresse leans on the more liberal side and receives the support of the other applicants
Opposite Éric Ciotti stands the 54-year-old liberal Valérie Pécresse, who has entered the presidential race since June with the aim of being the first French head of state. A supporter of the former president Jacques Chirac, the president of the Ile-de-France region was part of all Nicolas Sarkozy’s governments and in July 2017 created her own movement within the LR, “Free Soyons” (‘Let’s be free’, in Spanish ), already thinking about the presidential elections of 2022.
Since his return to the party in October this year, he has strengthened his speech, especially on immigration and security.
It is willing to “put order”, especially in public accounts, and advocates the abolition of tens of thousands of civil servants.
“My hand is not shaking. I have a project to break frankly with the past and to the right, because France has no more time to lose,” he said at his headquarters at the end of the afternoon. In line with the sayings of her adversary, she also claimed to be “the only one who can face Macron.”
After knowing the results, the finalist received the support of the three candidates eliminated from the second round (Bertrand, Barnier and Juvin) as well as Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate.
“My political background and my vision of France guide my election,” Larcher, who had led Valérie Pécresse’s support committee in the last regional elections, wrote in a statement. However, he had not spoken before the first round.
On the other hand, he stressed that he has “respect and friendship for Éric Ciotti, due to the strength of his convictions.” In addition, he indicated that in the second round, “each one will vote according to their convictions”, but “as of Saturday afternoon, it will be the meeting that will serve as a roadmap around which it will be designated by our members.”
The second round will start from Friday, December 2 at 8 in the morning and will conclude the next day at 2 in the afternoon
With Reuters and EFE
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