The three contenders will debate this Monday, before the vote of Republican members, at the party congress in early December.
By Thibaut Deleaz
© THOMAS COEX/ESTELLE RUIZ/LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP
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Dtwo hours to convince. The three candidates for the presidency of the Les Républicains party meet this Monday, November 21 at 8:30 p.m. on LCI for the only televised debate before the congress – the vote of the more than 80,000 up-to-date members is scheduled for the first two. December weekends.
The opportunity for Éric Ciotti, Aurélien Pradié and Bruno Retailleau to confront their projects for the right, in bad shape since the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and the 4.7% of Valérie Pécresse in 2022. Three very different profiles with one thing in common, however: the three men are aware that the party must reinvent itself.
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Eric Ciotti
At 57, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes is historically the holder of a hard line within the party, which he led in the second round of the previous congress, at the end of 2021, to nominate the LR presidential candidate. It was Valérie Pécresse who finally won. Éric Ciotti refuses any agreement with the relative majority of Emmanuel Macron in the Assembly, believing that “we do not ally with a power that will have damaged France so much”. In The Parisian, he draws the economic and social line of the party: “LR must be the party of lower taxes and the revaluation of work. »
The end of the Nice campaign is tainted by revelations from the chained duck and of Release, accusing his ex-companion of multiple jobs with the chosen one. The two concerned deny it, Eric Ciotti claiming that these jobs were not fictitious and that the working time was well distributed. What pollute his candidacy? The deputy can in any case boast of strong support: that of Laurent Wauquiez, who could be a candidate in 2027.
READ ALSODuel Ciotti-Retailleau: the right goes back to the ring
Aurelien Pradie
At 36, he is the outsider of the competition, but wants to believe that he could create a surprise and not just decide between the two finalists. The deputy for Lot also rejects any idea of a coalition between LR and Emmanuel Macron, and moreover wants to “turn the page Nicolas Sarkozy”, who also called for this rapprochement.
His plan for LR? “I want to rebuild a right that speaks to all French people, reconnect with the popular movement”, he explains in The echoes. During the campaign, the young deputy stood out for some radical positions, declaring in particular that he wanted to ban the veil, “perhaps even in public space”.
READ ALSOAurélien Pradié, the “baby Chirac” who shakes LR
Bruno Retailleau
At 62, the senator from Vendée and president of the LR group in the Senate has already delivered his party’s funeral oration, believing in the JDD that “the “Les Républicains” brand is dead”. For Bruno Retailleau, only one solution for the right to be ready to govern again: “change everything”.
A certainty for the Vendéen: this refoundation will not go through a rapprochement with the relative majority of Emmanuel Macron. “I have another ambition for LR than to be the back-up force for Macronism. Bruno Retailleau notably wants the right to lead the battle against “those who want to deconstruct our civilization: wokists, Islamo-leftists, communitarians”. The party must work on the plan of ideas, he assures, proposing to consult the militants by referendum on the new orientations of LR.
READ ALSOCotta – LR, the choice of a president… and a project
LR Congress, instructions for use
The more than 80,000 LR members up to date with contributions on November 3 can vote to appoint the president of the party, who will take over from Annie Genevard, interim president. After the suspicions of fraud during the last congress, before the presidential election, the high authority of the party claims to have carried out rigorous checks via “several thousand emails and telephone calls”.
Voting will take place in two rounds. The first from Saturday December 3 at 6 p.m. to Sunday December 4 at 6 p.m. The second from Saturday December 10 at 6 p.m. to Sunday December 11 at 6 p.m. The new president will be known immediately.