Forget the great media figures of the Right and the War of the Chiefs, place for ideas and gathering. This is the message that intends to pass the interim president of the party Republicans (LR), Jean Leonetti, Saturday, August 31, in La Baule, on the occasion of the political return of his party. While the election of the future president of LR approach (12-13 October) and that the three candidates for the post - Christian Jacob, William Larrivé, Julien Aubert - will be present in Loire-Atlantique, the former force majority on the right intends to leave the head of the water.
Still sounded by the elimination of François Fillon in the first round of the 2017 presidential election, the humiliation suffered in the European 2019 by the list of François-Xavier Bellamy (8.48%) and the resignation of Laurent Wauquiez of the presidency of the party The Republicans know that the road to reconstruction will be long.
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"My message to La Baule will be to say that we can be able to gather on common values by opening up to the people, explains Jean Leonetti, contacted by France 24. When we lose, we are never right against the people, so we must do an examination of conscience to present a project that is more in tune with 21st century France. "
💬 @ JeanLeonetti: "I believe in # ideas more than #Men. The question is not who but what: what # of society do we want for #France? #The79Inter #LR pic.twitter.com/RRxkGu2gLs
the Republicans (@theRepublicans) July 10, 2019The project: this is the word that keeps coming back in the mouths of LR executives. Taken in pincers by The Republic marching on his left and the National Rally on his right, The Republicans, heir party of the UMP which brought to power Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, today has a restricted political space. Defining a line therefore remains the priority for a party that has been accused by many of its former figures of curling up on the traditional Catholic right when it was led by Laurent Wauquiez.
"I need a renewal of the ideas and the project much more than the candidate for the next presidential, insists Jean Leonetti.Wauquiez was criticized so much for thinking about 2022 that it hurt his person and the recovery of LR So let's reconstruct the ideas before looking for the providential figure. "
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To ensure that they have only the party's recovery in mind, the candidates for the presidency of LR had to agree not to be a candidate in the presidential election of 2022. "A measure of appeasement" , according to Jean Leonetti. And indeed, while we can often doubt the word of a politician on such a commitment, it is hard to imagine Christian Jacob, Guillaume Larrivé or Julien Aubert, three unknown to the general public, being tempted to run for the Élysée .
Christian Jacob, a rallyer as a favorite
Of these three candidates, Christian Jacob is an arch-favorite. At 59, the former minister of Jacques Chirac and MP for Seine-et-Marne, is the one who has the most experience. President of the group Republicans in the National Assembly since 2010, he has forged the image of a rally and plays this card thoroughly since the announcement of his candidacy. While it was necessary to gather the support of at least ten parliamentarians and 1,311 members to be a candidate for the presidency, Christian Jacob has gathered on his behalf 123 signatures of parliamentarians on the 196 contribution day. The sign, for some observers, that the election is already folded.
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Facing him, his two competitors want to believe in their chances by focusing on more divisive proposals. Guillaume Larrivé, 42, deputy of Yonne, defines himself as a "national-liberal". He notably voted white in the second round of the 2017 presidential election and published the same year "Insubmission", a book that responded to that of Michel Houellebecq, "Submission". He also pleaded, on August 27 on Europe 1, for the suppression of the "right of the soil" in France and, fearing a "replacement immigration in France and Europe", declared himself in favor of a "new code of nationality ".
🔴 And the 3 candidates for the election to the presidency of @lesRepublicains are: @ JulienAubert84, @ ChJacob77 and @GLarrive.
➡️ The full decision of the High Authority: https://t.co/3L23G4pqF2
➡️ All information about the election: https://t.co/4jc8FUN6ua pic.twitter.com/IoAoCHnErC
At 41, the Vaucluse MP, Julien Aubert, presents a sovereignist and social candidacy. Critic of globalization and finance, having been formed under the protective wings of Thierry Mariani and Henri Guaino, he claims Gaullism, Charles Pasqua and Philippe Séguin, but says he wants to rebuild a party "right" and not " right and center ". His movement, Dare France, is "popular and patriotic". A line that received, Friday, August 30, the support of the president of France Debbie Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who believes that Julien Aubert "tries to do" what he "tried" to do fifteen years ago is to put an end to the double speech of the UMP on Europe ".
The future political line of LR will undoubtedly depend on the success of its future president, one of whose main challenges will be to stop the haemorrhage among members. While the latter were 234,000 at the end of 2017, today they are just over 130,000 contribution days. "Our problem is to convince all citizens and not just certain categories.We will gather only through openness to the people and especially not by the withdrawal," warns Jean Leonetti.