The former Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told LREM deputies on Friday of his "desire" to run for the presidency of the majority group in the Assembly in September, in a message that AFP obtained. After François de Rugy, he is the second declared candidate to succeed Gilles Le Gendre, criticized internally and who will leave his post at the start of the school year. The ballot is scheduled for September 9 and 10 to unveil the result at the opening of the LREM parliamentary days, organized in Amiens.
"Want to carry our values with you"
"Yes, I want to be a candidate for the presidency of our group. Want to carry our values with you. Want to fully reconnect, at your side, in the Assembly, with this spirit of conquest born during the campaign" , wrote Christophe Castaner in his message to LREM deputies. "Some colleagues joke that he wants so much that we think he wants him to repeat it half a dozen times," quipped a "walker" to AFP.
Christophe Castaner, who will once again become a deputy for Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, offers a ticket with deputy Marie Lebec, who "would be first vice-president". "With Marie, we share a desire to act effectively and to rediscover the spirit of our commitment around Emmanuel Macron", writes the former Minister of the Interior, aged 54.