"We must rebuild the right, it is threatened with extinction, but as a free woman I decided to leave the Republicans." Wednesday, June 5, Valérie Pécresse announced on France 2 that she left The Republicans. Three days earlier, party leader Laurent Wauquiez had already indicated that he was leaving management.
I decided as a free woman to leave The Republicans. I have become convinced that the refoundation of the right will not be possible within the party. # 20hF2 pic.twitter.com/RjfrLTvzc9
Valérie Pécresse (@vpecresse) June 5, 2019The president of the Île-de-France region and former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy, cited as one possible candidate for the presidency of LR, estimated that the necessary reshaping of the right, after the defeat of the European elections (8.48 %), could not be done "inside the party".
"It is a tear for me to leave the movement of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy that I helped to found," she said, while considering that the party had "locked". A new implicit attack on Laurent Wauquiez, who had "righted" the party since his election in December 2017, and with which relations were freezing.
The boss of deputies LR Christian Jacob reacted to this announcement Wednesday, judging "totally incomprehensible" the decision of Valerie Pécresse. "After the resignation of Laurent Wauquiez, after the meeting around Gérard Larcher and the unanimous desire to rebuild our political family, the decision of Valérie Pécresse appears as completely incomprehensible, in its calendar, its foundation and in the formula", has it he told AFP.
"Sad of the incomprehensible decision of Valérie Pécresse In the difficult moments we do not leave the ship.Only the unit and the gathering will allow us to thwart the Machiavellian trap of Emmanuel #Macron", for its part, tweeted the MP LR Éric Ciotti.
After the announcement of the departure of Valérie Pécresse, two of her relatives, Florence Portelli and Maël de Calan, also told AFP their departure from LR, as well as MP Robin Reda, on Twitter.
With AFP and Reuters