The symbol is striking: three weeks before the first round of the legislative elections, the boss of the LR deputies Damien Abad slammed the door of the party on Thursday, where speculation is raging about a rapprochement with the majority.

“I decide today to leave my function as president of the LR group in the Assembly”, affirmed to Figaro Damien Abad, who is also going “on leave” from his party, Les Républicains.

Possible entry into government?

This departure is not a surprise, as the calls to get out of the ambiguity had multiplied in the LR ranks since the presidential election.

Thursday morning, the boss of LR Christian Jacob himself had summoned him to leave the head of the group, exasperated to see him again delaying a clarification demanded by his fellow deputies.

To justify his decision, Damien Abad invokes a concern for "coherence and responsibility" but also a desire for "clarity in [his] future choices".

What fuel speculation about a possible entry into government?

Abad, who makes "no comment" on this subject, also sweeps away the argument that the absence of any LREM opponent in his constituency (the 5th of Ain).

“There is no counterpart” and “I am not in a logic of haggling”, he insists.

But, he explains, “differences” with his party “have accelerated in recent weeks”.

In particular, he finds it "regrettable" that some in his family "make Emmanuel Macron the number one opponent", and assures him: "I no longer recognize myself in the LR approach".

Few dissidents so far

Although expected, the blow is no less harsh for Les Républicains, who have so far been proud of a good resistance to attempts to poach the majority.

“We were told about sixty deputies who were going to join the presidential majority.

We went to 40, 30, 10”, said Thursday morning on franceinfo Christian Jacob, estimating that “it may end at 4 or 5”.

Among the rare dissidences, those of the Sarkozyist deputy Constance Le Grip and the pécressiste Robin Reda had been noticed.

With Damien Abad, it is the boss of the LR deputies who crosses the Rubicon.

Will others follow?

“My political line (…) is not that minority within my political family”, he replies laconically to Figaro.

"Unworthy"

Damien Abad, who prides himself on “many messages of support from LR deputies” for his approach, warns: “Other personalities think like me, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean-François Copé or Philippe Juvin”.

These three right-wing figures pleaded, in various forms, for a government pact with the majority.

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy in particular, who never supported Valérie Pécresse during her campaign, called two days after the first round to vote for Emmanuel Macron, and not only to block the far right, but on behalf substantive arguments.

Damien Abad, who assures that he "remains a man of the right", also advocates "a line of clarity and responsibility, corresponding to a force of government".

First elected disabled person to sit in the Assembly

His party did not wait to retaliate.

Denouncing an "unworthy and despicable attitude", Eric Ciotti, holding the right-wing line, assured on Twitter that "we will support Julien Martinez against him", who had been a member of Xavier Bertrand's team during the LR primaries at the last fall.

At the head of the LR group, the interim will be provided by the current vice-president Virginie Duby-Muller, deputy for Haute-Savoie.

Damien Abad, 42, took over the head of the LR group at the Palais Bourbon in November 2019, with around a hundred elected officials, succeeding Christian Jacob who became party president.

Agreeable and warm-hearted, in 2012 he was the first elected disabled person to sit in the Assembly.

Grandson of a miner born in Nîmes (Gard), a graduate of Sciences-Po Paris, he had joined the UDF then the New Center, before joining the UMP (now LR) in 2012, to the chagrin of the president of the NC Herve Morin.

Support for Bruno Le Maire during the 2016 primary before the presidential election, he then campaigned for François Fillon.

Damien Abad was also vice-president of LR under Laurent Wauquiez.

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Policy

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  • The Republicans (LR)

  • Legislative elections 2022

  • National Assembly

  • The Republic on the March (LREM)