The boss of the Les Républicains party, Christian Jacob, will leave his post at the beginning of July after more than two years of service. The battle for his succession will then begin with an election expected in the fall for the militants to appoint their next leader.
It smells like vacation for Christian Jacob. A drink with his collaborators this Thursday, June 30 and the boss of LR should resign to go and do English, before working in the private sector.
Laurent Wauquiez will therefore have to decide very soon. If the boss of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is a candidate to chair LR, many on the right should support him. If it is not, “ it’s going to go away in peanuts “, predicts a former deputy who fears a war of chapels.
An interim president?
But now, taking the reins of the party four and a half years before the presidential election of 2027, it can be a springboard, but also a slide. It is to take the risk of wearing out in the opposition and of crashing in the European elections of 2024.
So, the idea of a president who would ensure a kind of interim until this deadline appeals to some at LR. Michel Barnier, the former Brexit gentleman, would see himself leading the right to the European ballot. Others would prefer the thirty-year-old Aurélien Pradié to him to renew the right and renovate it. He could then give way to a certain Xavier Bertrand, who is also eyeing 2027.
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