New shock at Les Républicains (LR). Damien Abad, the president of the LR group in the National Assembly leaves his functions “for the sake of clarity, consistency and accountability”, he announced, Thursday, May 19, in the columns of the Figaro. “I remain a right-wing man but I am taking leave from my party”, he explained.
Mr. Abad had been under fire from critics for several weeks for his hitherto never denied acquaintances with the presidential camp. The pressure rose a notch Tuesday around the one who chaired the first opposition group in the National Assembly. Faced with around forty LR deputies asking him to « clarifier sa position »Damien Abad had asked “a period of forty-eight hours”, i.e. until Friday 20 May, the deadline for submitting candidacies for the legislative elections of 12 and 19 June. Moment when he hoped to finally be able to know the composition of the government and why not hear his name declaimed on the steps of the Elysée by the secretary general, Alexis Kohler.
But tired of this lying poker game, the president of the Les Républicains party, Christian Jacob, urged Mr. Abad to “stepping down as chairman of the group”Thursday in the early afternoon in a pithy press release. “Under these conditions, I told him that we could not expect Mr. Macron’s goodwill to take him or not to take him from the government”, decided Mr. Jacob, after the deputy for Ain asked him “additional time to wait for the composition of the government”. It is Virginie Duby-Muller, MP (LR) for Haute-Savoie, who will be responsible for chairing the group until the legislative elections.
“I don’t believe in old divisions”
The ambiguity of the position held by Damien Abad had reached its climax, when the presidential majority had indicated that it did not want to invest a candidate Together against him, in the 5e district of Ain. The delegate general of La République en Marche (LRM), Stanislas Guerini, justified this decision by invoking “the posture of responsibility and clarity” of Mr. Abad, when the latter had called to vote for Emmanuel Macron against the candidate of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, in the between-two-rounds of the presidential election. « I find it regrettable that some within our family make Emmanuel Macron the number one opponentrepeated at Figaro M. Abad. Faced with the populist danger, I do not believe in old divisions but in bringing together all those who wish to move our country forward.
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