Virginie Calmels throws in the towel. In The Sunday newspaper from October 2the former number two of the Republicans (LR) declares that she gives up running for the head of the party, denouncing a ballot ” biased “.
On August 29, the High Authority of LR rejected the application by Mme Calmels, arguing that she was not up to date on July 22. The decision has since been overturned by the courts, but another difficulty arose afterwards, Virginie Calmels asking for the postponement of the dates of the ballot, scheduled for December 3 and 4 for the first round, in order to have time to campaign – this which LR refused.
“Not wishing to endorse these multiple legal irregularities and these political maneuvers by my participation in this election, I have decided to withdrawshe told the JDD. I bow out to this nonsense. »
She also announces her desire not to participate in the campaign, whose declared candidates are the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti, the boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, the general secretary of LR, Aurélien Pradié, and the mayor of Orleans, Serge Grouard. She will not support any candidate. “The political line that I defend will no longer be represented. One thing is certain: I will not be on the side of those who advocate the union of the rights and want to make the republican right an auxiliary to Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour. »
” Grain of sand “
According to Virginie Calmels, “some are pulling the strings behind the scenes to install Eric Ciotti at the head of the party and immediately proclaim Laurent Wauquiez candidate of LR for the presidency of 2027. My candidacy was a grain of sand in the cogs of a scenario which was intended to be well oiled. »
Of liberal sensibility, M.me Calmels is a former assistant to Alain Juppé in Bordeaux. She claims to have wanted, by presenting herself, to defend “a line that is at the epicenter of the rights, equidistant from Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron”.
Ex-number two of LR, she was sacked in June 2018 by Laurent Wauquiez, then party boss and in open conflict with her. Former CEO of Endemol Monde, Virginie Calmels joined the luxury real estate group Barnes in 2019 and launched a digital school in 2020.