Alexandre Chauveau 13:01, September 08, 2021

The former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy is involved in the designation of the LR candidate in the next presidential election, increasing the number of meetings without taking sides.

If he is not in favor of the organization of a primary, the former president resigns himself to adopting a tie-breaking system in the absence of consensus.

The right is still looking for its presidential candidate.

And she is always divided on the means of designating it.

The organization of a primary is far from reaching a consensus and Jean Leonetti, in charge of thinking about a tie-breaker system, may have confirmed this Wednesday that there would be one, some are still showing themselves to be very cautious.

Starting with Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president who retains a key role within the Republicans.

>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here

This one was also to meet Jean Leonetti this Wednesday.

But, according to our information, the meeting was canceled, the former head of state especially not wanting to be exploited.

If Nicolas Sarkozy was never really in favor of the organization of a primary, it is in particular because this process did not necessarily leave him a good memory: he had finished third in 2016, behind Alain Juppé and François Fillon .

Above all, Nicolas Sarkozy believes that the presidential election is above all the meeting between a man and the people.

Sarkozy favors a tie-breaker rule in the absence of consensus

But faced with the absence of a natural leader on the right, and without evoking the word primary, his entourage tells us that the former head of state is in favor of a tie-breaker rule between all the candidates. He is closely interested in who will represent the Republicans for this campaign, multiplying the meetings, even if his relatives assure us that he will not take sides in the selection process. With Valérie Pécresse last week, or Xavier Bertrand on September 20 for example. 

For the latter, moreover, the position of Nicolas Sarkozy, who retains a great influence on the right, is decisive. If the former president were to officially plead for the organization of a primary, it could be a stone in the shoe of Xavier Bertrand. Who, in the meantime, still continues his race alone, away from the other candidates, refusing to hear about such a poll.