Since Tuesday morning, a letter on LR’s letterhead has been circulating widely on Twitter. It is signed by the general secretary of the party, Aurélien Pradié, and is addressed to a certain Clément Borioli. The author of the missive announces the opening of “disciplinary proceedings” against the addressee on the grounds that he supports “Mr. Eric Zemmour in the context of the presidential election of 10 and 24 April next”.
According to several supporters of Eric Zemmour’s Reconquest party, it would be a “disciplinary procedure against the mayors who sponsor Eric Zemmour. »
FAKE OFF
If this letter was indeed written and sent by the Les Républicains party, the truth is different from what Eric Zemmour’s supporters explain on social networks. Contacted by 20 minutesthe secretary general of the LR party Aurélien Pradié castigated the idea that an elected official would be sanctioned because of sponsorship.
“Firstly, it is not possible for this member [de LR] to grant sponsorship to a candidate”, advances Aurélien Pradié. Indeed, Clément Borioli does not exercise a mandate as mayor or elected to Parliament, for example.
Little known publicly, Clément Borioli had however made the news when he was spokesperson for Homovox, a homosexual collective against marriage for all, in 2012. The same year, he joined the Les Républicains party. Since then, the activist has settled on the island of Saint-Martin, where he announced, last January, to become referent of the Reconquête party of Eric Zemmour for the islands of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin. “I was won over by Eric Zemmour’s speech, whom I was able to meet during his holidays spent in Saint-Martin at the end of the year. […]. He embodies for me the values that I want to defend for my country, ”he explained last month. to the local media on 97150.
Only then, when joining Eric Zemmour’s campaign, Clément Borioli continued to use the LR party logo for his communications, says Aurélien Pradié. “We asked him several times to stop posing as “Republicans with Zemmour”. But he does not seem to have heard the message, ”explains the secretary general of the party. Before concluding: “This procedure therefore aims to exclude him definitively from the party, since he has not yet dared to leave it. »
No sanctions for mayors who support Zemmour
In his letter, Aurélien Pradié also quotes article 5 of the rules of procedure of the LR party. Which provides for example that “in the three months preceding […] any national or local election for which the movement presents a candidate or a list of candidates, the political office can pronounce the suspension or the exclusion of any member who would have violated the decisions taken by the movement as regards candidature or investiture. »
With regard to elected officials who have sent their sponsorship to a candidate other than Valérie Pécresse, Aurélien Pradié affirms that they are free and that no sanction is provided for against them.
Still far from the bar of 500 signatures, Eric Zemmour has nevertheless denounced for several days pressure from LR and the PS so that their elected officials do not sponsor him. “It’s very difficult, we fight hour by hour. There is outrageous pressure on mayors. It would be a democratic earthquake if Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and myself, who represent 40% of the electorate, were not in the first round”, declared Eric Zemmour on Tuesday in the “Live Presidentiel” TF1 – 20 minutes.
Sponsor or not, the candidate welcomed the support of Clément Borioli, this Wednesday, on his Twitter account.