Saint-Etienne (AFP)

The mayor of Saint-Etienne, Gaël Perdriau, vice-president of the Republicans, described Friday as "ridiculous" the meeting Tuesday in Paris of the five potential candidates of the right in the presidential election around the leaders of LR to consider a "candidacy unique".

"This meeting, I find it ridiculous for two reasons (…). The President of the Republic is the meeting of a man, a woman, with the French people. He or she cannot be the man or woman of a party ", declared the president of the metropolis of Stéphane in an interview with the website if-saint-etienne.fr. "The second reason is that the primary is the best way to shoot and not be present in the second round (...). It is to highlight the weaknesses of each candidate (...), which feeds a process of destruction by our opponents then. It is the best way to lose, "he continued.

"I would dissociate myself from a possible primary. It is the reverse of what the French want," said the city councilor of the largest city led by an elected LR from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. including President Laurent Wauquiez is one of the undeclared contenders for the 2022 election.

Tuesday in Paris, the leader of senators LR Bruno Retailleau, the former minister and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (LR), Laurent Wauquiez, the LR mayor of La Garenne-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) Philippe Juvin, and the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse (Libres !, ex-LR) had come together to consider "a single candidacy" from the right in the presidential election.

Two days after this meeting, Ms. Pécresse announced her candidacy in the presidential race.

As for the president of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand (ex-LR), claiming already declared, he refuses at this stage to participate in a primary.

"We are not in a Miss France contest. Before supporting a candidate, I would first like to know what they are proposing. And I have not heard anything likely to correct the injustices, the inequalities that our country knows today. This is also why I will make proposals… ", concluded Mr. Perdriau.

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