The absurd is a timeless comic spring. This June 14, we play Raymond Devos at the Paris judicial court. Eric Ciotti contests in summary proceedings his exclusion from the presidency of the Republicans, pronounced by his peers after his announcement of alliance with the National Rally. “I am LR’s lawyer”, “I represent Les Républicains”… The lawyers of Niçois and of interim president Annie Genevard are competing for the same quality. Suspension, call to a representative of the President of Paris: cacophony reigns.
Shortly before 8 p.m., the decision was made. Justice suspends the exclusion from the presidency of LR Eric Ciotti, pending a judgment “on the merits”. Until then, legal uncertainty weighs on the candidates nominated by the “rebellious” leadership of the party. Here is the Niçois restored to his rights. Him, deposed leader, challenged by the employees of LR headquarters, master of a ghost kingdom. A few hours before the decision, a permanent confided: “If he becomes president again, he could fire us.”
Yet another twist in a bad play. Eric, alone on his balcony, facing a crowd of journalists. Ciotti, filmed in his vast white office, against the backdrop of epic music. Equally demonstrative adversaries. The actors write acts and scenes on a daily basis. This folklore poorly masks the violence of the crisis experienced by LR. A fight to the death is underway between Éric Ciotti and almost all of the party’s leaders. “He’s trying to kill us,” says a leader.
“LR baskets”
There is psychology in this crisis. The ambition of a man, follower of the politics of fait accompli. Between Eric Ciotti and his former “friends”, ties are cut. No red telephone to prevent a nuclear disaster, no LR executive acts as a liaison agent. But this battle also symbolizes the strategic dissensions of a party in existential crisis, torn between two contradictory poles. A formation incapable of putting into music its line of independence towards the extreme right and the macronie.
Politics is full of taboos. Of transgressions, which it would be inappropriate to dare. Referral to justice is one of them. Dirty laundry is washed at home. François Fillon and Jean-François Copé applied this precept in their fratricidal duel in 2012. Éric Ciotti did not hesitate to summon the law to regain his throne. He needed it. When he announced on Tuesday June 11 an alliance with the National Rally, the man spoke into a void. In return, cries of indignation and mockery. Éric Ciotti involved almost no executives in his alliance project. Only one MP accompanies him, the elected representative for Alpes-Maritimes Christelle d’Intorni. The man is quickly excluded from LR, which nominates its own candidates. He is not one of them.
No matter: Éric Ciotti doesn’t give up. Jordan Bardella announced Friday that 70 candidates will benefit from an “LR-RN” nomination in the legislative elections, even if it means facing “historic LR canals”. The right smiles. Internally, we laugh at the solitude of Eric Ciotti, forced to find 70 suitors with his little arms. Everyone has an anecdote about this hunt for candidates. We laugh at their supposed profile, young and without much experience. “If the RN wants to fund the LR, let it do it, smiles a hierarch. They will have losers in the Assembly. Marine Le Pen thought that Ciotti would train executives, she screwed up. The basket of the bride is empty.” “The RN is promising him a parliamentary group that he will not have,” says a leader.
“He is in calculation, more than in unreason”
To hell with the jeers. The disciples of Nice advance in groups. They believe they benefit from a key asset: the support of the National Rally, supported by marvelous polls. A contender sharpens his arguments: “Voters will choose who is able to have a strong parliamentary majority to turn France around. We will tell people on the right: don’t waste your vote.” In 2017, weren’t unknown people elected under the banner of La République en Marche, in the wake of the election of Emmanuel Macron?
Bruno Retailleau went to war against Éric Ciotti. He warns: “Ciotti is a rational being. He is in calculation, more than in unreason.” The court decision confirmed the Vendéen’s intuition. But for what effect? A battle is emerging, as legally insipid as it is politically momentous. What value should be given to legislative investitures carried out after the exclusion of Eric Ciotti? Can the lucky ones claim the LR label? Assures him that these investitures are off the charts. His opponents confirm their legality. The court refused to rule on the request for a ban on the use of logos and brands belonging to LR. A headache to be expected.
With this forcefully imposed alliance, Éric Ciotti is sowing trouble over the political identity of the Republicans. Especially since the elected official denounces at the same time “secret alliances” negotiated by Emmanuel Macron and Gérard Larcher with a view to the legislative elections. The right denies the slightest agreement of device, but also plays with chiaroscuro. In certain territories, LR and the majority do not present candidates against each other. These local agreements are formed to avoid a fratricidal duel between contenders eyeing the same electorate, particularly in urban areas.
Ciotti, a symptom as much as a cause
Thus, the Renaissance deputy for Essonne, Robin Reda, should not have an LR opponent in his constituency. The LR mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, has every chance of competing in Val-de-Marne without a majority rival. A non-aggression pact is taking shape in Loire-Atlantique. An LR executive defends: “People try to save each other, but it is not of the same nature as what Ciotti did. And this concerns a minority of cases.” Especially since the right is also unable to find candidates in certain constituencies. These arrangements, however, indicate an ideological proximity. Who imagines a socialist refusing to go into combat for the benefit of a right-wing elected official?
Éric Ciotti relies on these ambiguities to defend his alliance with the RN. Clarity is him! Above all, man risks adding confusion to an inextricable situation. He also has a good back. The LR electorate is divided on the alliances to be formed, its deputies come from territories with diverse electoral sociology. His ideological compass is illegible. As when LR MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, slayer of Eric Ciotti, asserts that he would vote without hesitation for the RN in the event of a second round against the left. Éric Ciotti is not just the main actor in the drama experienced by the heir of the UMP. It is also the symptom.
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