Les Estables (France) (AFP)

President LR of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez on Sunday blasted "the poison of division" and called on his political family to unite for the presidential election, two days after announcing that he would not be a candidate .

"I decided not to run for president. This choice I face the poison of division, a terrible poison which has already done us so much harm. I see the candidatures on the right multiplying dangerously without even that we still know how we will decide between them, "regretted the former leader of the Republicans in a speech marking his political comeback.

Several hundred of his supporters and about fifty elected officials were gathered on Sunday in Estables (Haute-Loire) for this speech preceding his traditional ascent of Mont Mézenc, on the borders of Haute-Loire and Ardèche, that the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region has climbed each year since 2012.

Thursday, Mr. Wauquiez had indicated that he was not embarking on the presidential race, considering that "the moment has not come" for him, while Valérie Pécresse, Michel Barnier, Philippe Juvin and Eric Ciotti have embarked on the race for the primary.

For his part, Xavier Bertrand, ex-LR who is still ahead of his rivals in the polls, excludes for the time being to participate in any primary on the right.

- "Risk of fragmentation" -

In view of the virtual congress which will decide the fate of the internal ballot on September 25, Mr. Wauquiez wanted to warn his family against a "risk of fragmentation" and "difficulties in building a candidacy for a union", without however clearly pronouncing against or in favor of a primary.

"I see the dangers posed by solitary adventures on our chances of victory", added Mr. Wauquiez, repeating that he did not wish "to add one more candidacy in a landscape already far too fragmented for our liking" .

"Personal ambitions are legitimate, but they must be part of a collective ambition (...) We win when we are together," he insisted, probably targeting the isolated candidacy of Mr. Bertrand.

But to overcome "these wars of Picrochole" the ex-president of the Republicans wanted "to launch two appeals to (s) es friends, a call for union and a call for convictions, according to him fundamental to bring hope".

"We must maintain fidelity to our ideas, we need a clear course to raise the right and rebuild the country," said the forty-something, before spelling out the main principles that he will continue to defend.

To fight against "the excesses of the assistantship", a "migratory policy out of control", the weight of the charges on the small entrepreneurs and farmers, the budgetary drift, and to advocate the "restoration of the authority" and "the identity "will remain at the heart of his concerns, he insisted.

According to an interactive Harris poll published on Wednesday, the right would obtain 16% in the first round with Xavier Bertrand and 13% with Valérie Pécresse, still far behind the scores promised to Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.

© 2021 AFP