He came first, with 42.73% of militant votes, ahead of Bruno Retailleau (34.45%) and Aurélien Pradié (22.29%). The deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti is in a good position, even if he would have hoped for a clearer lead over his rival in the Senate, and to win in the second round, Sunday, December 11, and become, at 57, the new president of the Les Républicains (LR) party.
He conducted a local campaign, criss-crossing the federations, sometimes with two or three public meetings a day, repeating his slogan “Right to the heart” and defending a line based on authority and security, freedom and work. His opponents blamed him “a less powerful rentier campaign than during the presidential primary [où il avait créé la surprise, en décembre 2021, contre Valérie Pécresse] », in the words of Lot deputy Aurélien Pradié. The interested party assumes: “For the primary, I had to settle in the landscape, but the militants know me now, they know that I am on the right, I did not need to add to it. »
Unlike his 2021 campaign, this time he tried to be more unifying and “collective”. And has avoided taking risks, turning down most interviews on broadcast mornings and Sunday political shows. At the beginning of November, he strongly condemned the xenophobic remarks of the deputy of the National Rally (RN) Grégoire de Fournas (“that he(they) return(s) to Africa”), launched in the middle of the Hemicycle on the subject ofOcean-Vicking. What some LR activists have often criticized him for during his public meetings.
“You are too right”
A counter-employment campaign linked to his fears of seeing moderate executives and elected officials, who disagree with his right-wing line, leave in the event of victory on December 11 – which many have predicted in recent months. The boss of the centrists, Hervé Morin, has already threatened to break with the Gaullist party if it were led by Ciotti. “You are too right”had also reproached him, this summer, the senator of Vendée Bruno Retailleau, who in turn launched into the race to try to block his way. “On certain subjects, I am much less to the right than you”, retorted Mr. Ciotti, who, on November 24, voted for the constitutionalization of abortion. Today, the person concerned ensures that he no longer believes in the scenario of the “schism” within his party.
In August 2021, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes had shaken up the game of the primary by being a candidate for the congress (where the activists were called upon to choose their presidential candidate) against opponents more capable than him, including the former ministers Valérie Pécresse, Xavier Bertrand and Michel Barnier. The package of Laurent Wauquiez – who gave up presenting himself – having freed the right flank of the chessboard, Eric Ciotti had decided to launch, to counter what he saw as “three center variations”. During the campaign, he had multiplied the shock proposals, aligned with that of the RN, even if he swears not to be favorable to the union of the rights: “national preference” on employment and housing, return to the right of blood, “French Guantanamo” or one “no matter what safe”. Nor did he hesitate to endorse the xenophobic and conspiracy theory of “great replacement”. And had aroused tensions in his own camp by affirming that in the event of a second round between Emmanuel Macron and Eric Zemmour, he would vote without hesitation for the latter. His first place, on the evening of the first round of the LR primary a year ago, had created surprise and confirmed the right-wing of the militant body. “I arrived at a level that few had expected at the start, including me by the way”he recalled himself, laughing. “This result moved me into another category. »
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