Without explicitly applying, number 2 Aurélien Pradié and MEP François-Xavier Bellamy expressed their interest on Wednesday for the presidency of the Republicans, without a “natural candidate” after the renunciation of Laurent Wauquiez to run for the succession of Christian Jacob. The first round of the election will take place electronically from December 3 to December 4 and, if no candidate obtains a majority of the votes cast, a second round will be organized on December 10 and 11.
“I really want to change the lives of my fellow citizens, does that go through the presidency of the Republicans? It’s not impossible at all, ”replied on Europe 1 Mr. Pradié, LR deputy for Lot, while ensuring that he had not yet made his decision. “I am 36 years old, the French will gradually get to know me”, he added, specifying that we “will not rebuild the Republican right tomorrow with the recipes of yesterday and the day before yesterday. “.
“Eric Ciotti does not embody the whole right and I do not embody the whole right and therefore this complementarity is a wealth”, he estimated, in response to a question on the possible candidacy of the deputy of the Alps -maritime. “French democracy needs a right-wing political formation that assumes its ideas, which assumes its line (…) and if this perspective is not represented in this debate which is taking place, I will take all my responsibilities”, has warned on France Inter MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, holding a conservative line.
Barnier also interested
“Whoever will be destined to chair Les Républicains will not obviously be our candidate for the presidential election”, confirmed on franceinfo the boss of deputies LR Olivier Marleix, regretting Laurent Wauquiez’s decision. The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, gave up on Sunday to run for the presidency of the Republicans, while positioning himself to build an “alternative” for the presidential election of 2027.
“It’s the somewhat difficult situation in which we are going to be, we are in a political life where brands count a lot, there is the Mélenchon brand, the Le Pen brand, the Macron brand, we have to bring the Les brand to life. Republicans with a president who does not necessarily have the vocation to be a candidate for the presidency of the Republic”, he underlined.
Former European Commissioner Michel Barnier told the newspaper Le Figaro on Tuesday evening that he did not rule out the idea of running. “But before committing myself, I want to be sure that our objective will be collective,” he argued. Among the other names circulating are those of the interim president of the party, Annie Genevard, the former minister and mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris Rachida Dati, or the mayor of Cannes and president of the Association of mayors of France. David Lisanard.