Nearly 400 people, including a hundred candidates for the legislative elections of June 12 and 19, are expected at the National Council which will be held from 2 p.m., behind closed doors, at the party's headquarters.

On the program: speeches by leaders Annie Genevard, Christian Jacob and Gérard Larcher, video clip, as well as an intervention by Centrist allies Hervé Morin and, by video, Jean-Christophe Lagarde for the UDI, before a press conference by Mr. Jacob, president of LR, at 4 p.m.

Above all, the candidates will be given a "charter", which they will have to sign by the official filing of the candidatures, affirming their political independence.

Clearly, it is a question of dissuading any temptation to rally to Emmanuel Macron.

Because "there is no possible double membership", insists Mr. Jacob since the presidential election, disastrous for the party which has structured French political life for decades, since its candidate Valérie Pécresse only collected 4.8 % voices.

LR's big concern is that some deputies will go over to the macronie camp to save their seat.

After the second round of the presidential election, several elected officials (Damien Abad, Constance Le Grip, etc.) showed themselves open to a rally, in the name of the general interest, fueling speculation.

The right was also worried about recurring rumors lending to Nicolas Sarkozy, received again Tuesday at the Elysée, the intention to negotiate with Mr. Macron a series of rallies among the outgoing.

How much could they be in fine?

An article in the daily Le Figaro spoke Thursday of "five to seven" starters.

"We went from 60 to 30 and, today, less than 10. It's a very meager harvest", underlines a deputy.

In this context, the list of LREM nominations will be followed closely (the second wave is expected on Saturday), to see if the presidential majority puts a candidate in front of potential defectors.

The first wave on Thursday revealed that the LR deputy for Yonne Guillaume Larrivé, who had sent insistent signals, will finally have to face a Macronie candidate.

“A humiliation”, estimates the deputy already quoted, according to whom “it will cool some of them”.

"Local anchor"

The party now has its list almost ready, having met its last investiture committee on Wednesday.

Most of the heavyweights (Eric Ciotti, Damien Abad, Aurélien Pradié, Annie Genevard...) are back, even if Christian Jacob will not stand for a sixth term.

Others are launching for the first time: the former candidate for the primary Philippe Juvin (also cited among the possible rallies to the majority) in the Hauts-de-Seine, the lawyer and columnist Charles Consigny in the Yvelines ...

Several members of Ms. Pécresse's campaign team present themselves, from lawyer Thibault de Montbrial (Yvelines) to Geoffrey Carvalhinho (Seine-Saint-Denis) to youth president LR Guilhem Carayon in the family stronghold of Tarn .

Conversely in the 10th district of the North where Gérald Darmanin is running, the candidate invested by LR Claudine Hue announced Thursday that she was going to "support" the Minister of the Interior.

In total, about twenty candidates, although already invested, preferred to throw in the towel after the defeat of the presidential election.

But "these legislative elections are of a completely different nature", according to Christian Jacob, who set the objective Thursday on France inter: "We are at a hundred (deputies), it is to go beyond".

For this, the boss of LR is counting on a "local anchorage" confirmed during the municipal and regional elections.

"This is where we, the Republicans, make the difference", he assured, criticizing "Parisianism" and "bureaucracy" of the majority candidates.

As for the union of the left, it is "everything and anything", swept Mr. Jacob.

But an LR deputy is worried about the consequences in the legislative elections: "It's going to be rebellious, I fear that we will take a second wave of useful votes".

© 2022 AFP