For the elections of June 9, LR takes the same and starts again. The president of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, gave a boost to the European campaign on Monday by launching the outgoing and conservative François-Xavier Bellamy as head of the list.
“He is a remarkable European elected official who has given influence to our group and to France,” said the Alpes-Maritimes MP on TF1, who thus formalized the candidacy of the MEP whose name had been circulating for several years. month.
A campaign particularly focused on immigration
In an interview posted online on the website of Figaro, François-Xavier Bellamy reacted by expressing his “gratitude” to the boss of LR and by committing to “give everything” during an election which “involves a lot of the future of our political family, but also of life democratic in France. “For all right-wing voters, this is the time to come together to assert their convictions,” he added, refusing that political life be “reduced” to a choice between Emmanuel Macron and the RN.
François-Xavier Bellamy promises to campaign in particular on immigration, where “the essential remains to be done” to guarantee “the protection of borders”, as well as on the “reconstruction of economic security”.
Despite the entry into the running in September of Jordan Bardella for the National Rally and Marion Maréchal for Reconquête, Éric Ciotti waited until the start of the year to designate his head of list, but without revealing for the moment the name of his running mates.
LR lagging behind in the polls
Aged 38, François-Xavier Bellamy will have to find a space between Macronism, which repeatedly draws from its ranks to recruit ministers, and the far right which calls on “desperate” LR voters to join it. In 2019, he had already taken the head of the LR list, obtaining only 8.5% of the votes, barely more than the less than 5% of the right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse in the 2022 presidential election. real trauma for the right which fears that a new debacle will take LR away for good.
The Republicans cannot therefore afford to remain below 5%, especially as this result would deprive them of representation in the European Parliament and could weaken the EPP group, currently the largest with 176 deputies out of 705.
In an Elabe poll published Sunday by The gallery and BFMTV, the LR list remains stable compared to five years ago at 8.5%, far behind Jordan Bardella who is in the lead with 28.5% of voting intentions, ahead of the presidential majority (18%). .