Members of the Les Républicains party voted this weekend for their new president. At the end of the first round, Ciotti and Retailleau are qualified.
SourceAFP
© CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
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LLR members voted on Saturday December 3 and Sunday December 4 to elect their new president, in the first round of a crucial ballot for the future of this party in search of a new guideline. At the end of the electronic vote, the results revealed shortly after 6 p.m. validate the qualification of Éric Ciotti and Bruno Retailleau. The deputy and the senator will be decided by the members of the party during a second round organized on December 10 and 11, also by electronic vote.
It was the party’s interim president, Annie Genevard, who announced the qualification of Éric Ciotti, holding a right-wing line, and Bruno Retailleau, representing the conservative and liberal wing of the party. The deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Éric Ciotti collected 42.73% of the votes against 34.45% for the boss of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau. The Lot deputy Aurélien Pradié came third with 22.29% of the vote. Participation reached 72.67%.READ ALSO Aurélien Pradié, the “baby Chirac” who shakes LR
A “remarkable” participation
“As of this evening, the competition is reopened,” said Annie Genevard, welcoming this “remarkable” participation. In the second round, “it will be more personality differences than line issues”, she assured. By way of comparison, turnout reached 47% in 2019 in the first round of the election, which saw Christian Jacob take the presidency with 63% of the vote. In the first round of the 2021 primary, 81% of members had voted in the first round. The candidates had to go to the headquarters in the evening to make a statement.
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First to speak, Eric Ciotti said he was “filled with joy, confidence, hope to approach victory in the second round”, in a spirit of “gathering”. Resuming his message of firmness, he promised to be “the candidate of unity, of unity, on a line of clarity” with “three supporting pillars” around “authority”, “identity so that the France remains France” and “freedom”. While Les Républicains are courted by Macron and the far right, he insisted on “the independence of our political family”. “We were learnedly told a few days ago that everything would already be played”, quipped Bruno Retailleau. “Just over 5,000 votes separate me from Eric Ciotti’s score, on the contrary, everything is playable,” he added.
Eric Ciotti, who had held a joint meeting with the deputy of Lot on Tuesday, paid tribute to “a very fine campaign geared towards renewal” and promised “more than ever to bet on this youth who must embody the hope of our political family”. He “made a very good campaign” with “a lot of commitment, panache, “enthusiasm” with “an excellent score”, estimated Bruno Retailleau, despite his notoriously poor relations with the deputy of Lot. Because with 22% of the vote, its voters will prove decisive in the second round.
Ironically, Aurélien Pradié thanked his competitors “for all the attention they now give me, the words of encouragement, almost of love that they have been expressing for a few hours”. “I am not a man to haggle” but “I want my fights to be heard”, he added, assuring that he would “do everything so that our political family, in a week, is absolutely gathered”.