Christian Jacob in difficulty. – Jacques Witt / SIPA
- By proposing an alliance with the presidential majority for the elections on June 20 and 27, the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region Renaud Muselier has caused a political crisis among Les Républicains.
- Some LR executives are asking for sanctions against Paca’s elected official, who has kept a few marchers on his list.
- Torn between the Macronists and the National Rally, the Republicans are struggling to find a clear line, one month from the deadline.
The negotiations for the regional ended Monday at noon, with the closing of the filing of the lists, but the soap opera around the Republicans does not seem close to ending. The alliance between the LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region Renaud Muselier and the presidential majority, finally half aborted, continues to create turmoil on the right.
“What these regions show is that this party is imploding,” said MoDem deputy Jean-Louis Bourlanges, this Sunday, on France Info. Jostled by the hand extended by LREM and the ex-LR campaigning today at the RN, The Republicans are struggling to hold a clear line, one month before the first round scheduled for June 20.
“Muselier fooled us”
On the eve of a decisive strategic committee, Tuesday morning, Eric Ciotti puts a layer back in the Figaro on the LR-LREM alliance in Paca. “Despite his commitments, Renaud Muselier has indeed concluded an agreement in due form with the Macronian authorities. In fact, he took his political family hostage, ”tackles the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes. The elected representative of Nice wants LR to withdraw his support for Renaud Muselier, as also requested by the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau and the deputy vice-president Guillaume Peltier. “If we tell the French that En Marche is the same as Les Républicains, our political family will dig its grave and disappear,” he adds.
Because Renaud Muselier confirmed on Friday that 15 candidates from the presidential majority will finally be present on his list, despite the pressure put by the party leadership. “I trusted him the day after the national investiture commission, when he said that he had made a bad choice in accepting the support of the Prime Minister, but today I have the impression that he fooled. The presence of walkers disturbs the message, ”assures Julien Dive, LR deputy for Aisne. “Renaud Muselier commits a political fault and a moral fault. It is bullshit, which he does not manage to justify, ”also slices Aurélien Pradié, number three of the movement and candidate in Occitania.
But at the risk of further disturbing the message, the two elected officials refuse, for their part, to withdraw the nomination from the outgoing president. “We cannot afford the luxury of not having a list or elected officials in this region. We are not going to penalize all the regional advisers who have been taken on by their head of the list, ”blows Julien Dive.
Confusion, not just in Paca
Confusion does not reign only in Paca. A little further north, in the Grand-Est, Nadine Morano confirmed this Monday on Cnews that she would not vote for Jean Rottner, yet head of her party’s list. The LR MEP criticizes the outgoing president in particular for considering a merger with LREM with a view to the second round of regional elections, which the person denies. A few days earlier, the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and his friend Hubert Falco, city councilor of Toulon, announced with a crash their departure from LR, reproaching their party … the exact opposite, that is to say the refusal to ally with the walkers.
In Burgundy-France-Comté, it is the alliance between the candidate LR Gilles Platret and Debout la France, the party of Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, which creates a stir. At the same time, the National Gathering has invested former members of the right, such as Thierry Mariani in Paca, Jean-Paul Garraud in Occitanie, or Sébastien Chenu in Hauts-de-France… Enough to make voters dizzy a little more of right.
An Ipsos Sopra Steria survey for France Info and The Parisian, published on Sunday, confirms LR’s tug-of-war between the party of Emmanuel Macron and that of Marine Le Pen. 64% of those questioned believe in particular that the right could just as easily rally LREM as the RN. Less than a year from the presidential election, do these confusions endanger the movement? Aurélien Pradié sweeps away: “There is morbid jubilation around the Republicans. We are going through a storm, and the weakest take the plunge because they are scared. So much the better, only the bravest will be left on board to keep a clear line. “