After the departure of Christian Jacob, the Les Républicains party will elect its new president during a Congress organized next fall.
Laurent Wauquiez announced last Sunday that he would not be a candidate for the presidency of the Republicans.
Like him, Xavier Bertrand hinted that he would not take the lead of the party, while the two men did not give up their ambitions for 2027.
He will not return to lead the right.
Laurent Wauquiez announced last Sunday that he will not be a candidate for the presidency of the Republicans.
“I make this choice because I believe that we must devote all our energy to this overhaul to which our country aspires.
Such a requirement does not support any dispersion, ”said the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region on Facebook.
Before him, Xavier Bertrand had also hinted that he would not seek the presidency of LR.
If the two men have not given up on their presidential ambition for 2027, it will therefore not go through a recovery in hand of the party.
While LR will convene a Congress in the fall to find a successor to Christian Jacob, the candidates are waiting.
But why does the presidency of LR no longer interest the leaders of the right?
An overexposed position
It is an understatement to say that Laurent Wauquiez has bad memories of his time at the head of the movement, from 2017 to 2019. “For two years, he saw the limits of the exercise, breathes Arnaud Julien, departmental secretary of the Federation from Hérault.
As soon as he said something, his adversaries said the opposite.
He no longer wants to manage the daily newspapers of a party for five years, to be in internal fights which appear sterile, but to go directly to meet the French”.
Attacked internally for his positions, the ex-mayor of Puy-en-Velay had even had to let go of his throne after the stinging defeat of the right in the European elections in 2019. 'a party.
It is sure that it is an exposed position, but when we succeed in the bet, it can open up to great things ”, nuances the LR deputy from Aisne Julien Dive, close to Xavier Bertrand.
A demonetized party
Yet not so long ago, on the right, it was the party boss who became a presidential candidate.
Like Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 or Jacques Chirac in 1995. But the UMP and the RPR of the time, veritable electoral war machines, no longer have much to do with the current mechanics.
The recent presidential setbacks of Valérie Pécresse, who returned home to be nominated for the internal primary before being swept away in the first round, prove that the future of the right no longer necessarily fits through a party.
“A party remains important.
But it is not necessary or sufficient to win a presidential election, ”recognizes Arnaud Julien.
“It has not yet been fully integrated, but we have changed the paradigm with three lost presidential elections.
So we need a radical change within LR, ”adds Julien Dive, calling on the “young generation”, of which he is a part, to take power.
A delayed fight
If the leaders of the right are therefore not candidates for the presidency of the party, it is perhaps also to postpone the battle for the 2027 presidential election. “It is not a question of choosing this fall who will wear our colors in the next presidential election!
No one at LR wants to relive a second primary in less than a year, ”said Xavier Bertrand in an interview with Le Point last week.
“It's time to bury the hatchet and get to work.
We cannot continue to animate political life in our area, with our rivalries, our conflicts, when there are important deadlines long before 2027 ”, breathes Julien Dive.
The names of Rachida Dati, Eric Ciotti, Aurélien Pradié or David Lisnard are regularly cited to take up the torch left by Christian Jacob.
And by abandoning this crown, Laurent Wauquiez and Xavier Bertrand take the risk of feeding the ambitions of others.
Policy
The Republicans: Laurent Wauquiez renounces to seek the presidency of the party
Policy
Christian Jacob leaves the head of the Les Républicains party
Right
The Republicans (LR)
Laurent Wauquiez
Xavier-Bertrand
Christian Jacob