Between 300 and 400 people, including a hundred candidates, gathered at the party's headquarters, rue de Vaugirard, for a closed-door preparation meeting for the June 12 and 19 elections.
On the program: speeches by directors Annie Genevard, Christian Jacob and Gérard Larcher, video clip, and question-and-answer session with the audience.
A press conference was scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
A "moment of gathering", said the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti on his arrival.
The council had to consecrate "the line of independence of a free right and sure of its own values" and which "does not depend on anyone", for his part affirmed the boss of the senators Bruno Retailleau.
The candidates were thus to be given a "charter" enshrining this independence, and aimed at deterring any temptation to rally to Emmanuel Macron.
Among those present, the boss of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez and that of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand, as well as the mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris Rachida Dati, the treasurer Daniel Fasquelle and the MEPs François-Xavier Bellamy and Agnes Evren.
But many outgoing, already in the middle of the campaign, had not made the trip, in particular the boss of the deputies Damien Abad, at the center of speculation on a possible rapprochement with the majority, and the number 3 of the party Aurélien Pradié who has just call in an interview with Le Point to "break with Sarkozyism".
These legislative elections promise to be particularly delicate for LR after the 4.8% of its candidate Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election.
The party, which today holds a hundred seats in the National Assembly, is counting on its local roots to convince.
© 2022 AFP