Politics is a matter of superstition. Pray for victory, always. Anticipate it, never. Eric Ciotti’s campaign for the presidency of the Republicans (LR) was played out in this chiaroscuro, a mixture of confidence and precaution. A secret hope won over the entourage of the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes. What if he killed the game in the first round? What if he tore his two adversaries to pieces? This wish, confided on the tip of the lips by some relatives of the chosen one, did not come true. With 42.73% of the vote, the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes however came well ahead of the first round of the internal election. He will face Bruno Retailleau in the second round, who came in second with 34.45% of the vote. Lot deputy Aurélien Pradié closes the podium with 22.29%.
The headquarters of the Republicans resembled this Sunday evening the studio of The school of fans. Everyone had a good reason to be excited about his score. Eric Ciotti first. The deputy is the undisputed favorite of the second round. “I would have signed for this score, notes the MEP and close to the candidate Geoffroy Didier. It is a great satisfaction that encourages us.” The southerner skillfully played his strengths in this internal competition. A media figure, he applied the same right-wing political offer as a year ago.
Aurélien Pradié at the heart of attention
Assumed link between immigration and delinquency, call for a massive reduction in taxes, implacable criticism of Emmanuel Macron … The elected official assumed a speech in line with the militant DNA. Anxious to cajole these 90,000 voters, Eric Ciotti gave them a double promise: to end the primary and make Laurent Wauquiez the next right-wing presidential candidate. This commitment strengthened the MP. “The tandem with Wauquiez” works, greets its spokesperson Guilhem Carayon.
His rivals are also satisfied. Bruno Retailleau, still in the match, can hope to burn politeness to Eric Ciotti in the second round. His call for a “break”, supported by an acid inventory of the mandates of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke to more than a third of LR voters. Not negligible. Aurélien Pradié has finally won the hearts of a quarter of voters with his ode to renewal and his defense of a popular right. A very honest score in a party unaccustomed to young faces. “We were looked down on, and we are 10 points from the second round, rejoices MP LR Pierre-Henri Dumont. We have moved the lines in this campaign.”
As the saying goes, a new campaign begins. Eric Ciotti holds the keys. A haunting uncertainty accompanies his result: the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes, dryly beaten in the second round of the last primary, has he reached a glass ceiling? Its score can be subject to a double interpretation. Admittedly, it is up 17 points from its 2021 Congress score. But its number of voters remains almost the same as a year ago, around 28,000. “It stinks of the glass ceiling”, mocks a lieutenant of Bruno Retailleau, in an allusion to the divisive profile of the southerner. “Eric has earned his stripes, we no longer speak of an anti-Ciotti front”, challenges Geoffroy Didier.
“He takes responsibility, like the RN group”
History will prove one of the two camps right. Privately, Eric Ciotti wants to believe that the cursed “coalition” of 2021 is a thing of the past. His conviction: LR members do not elect a candidate for the supreme office here, but a party boss. No need in these conditions to be seen as a presidential candidate. The man also set out to dismantle this glass ceiling during the campaign. Eric Ciotti led a waveless race, with a smoother talk about form. Exit the “French Guantanamo” or the denunciation of the “great replacement”. Respectability: such was the dead order of his campaign. “He takes responsibility, like the RN group in the National Assembly”, smiled a lieutenant recently.
It remains to transform the test. Eric Ciotti and Bruno Retailleau have the eyes of Chimène for the voters of Aurélien Pradié. This small quarter of voters will make the difference on Sunday, December 11. In the Retailleau camp, we want to believe that the call for a break with Nicolas Sarkozy and the defense of renewal bring together their electorates. At Eric Ciotti, we do not forget to remember that the two men come from the same political family, unlike the ex-villiériste Bruno Retailleau.
Aurélien Pradié did not give voting instructions this Sunday evening, ironically about the “attention” given to him by his two former opponents. “I am not a man to haggle,” he assured during a press briefing. One of his relatives, however, confides his choice to vote in favor of Eric Ciotti, because of the conservatism of Bruno Retailleau. A first kick in the glass ceiling.