The Republicans (LR), the French sister party of the CDU/CSU, are realigning themselves and electing a new party leader at the beginning of December.

Three candidates are running for the highest party office, 57-year-old MP Eric Ciotti, 62-year-old Senate faction leader Bruno Retailleau and 36-year-old MP Aurélien Pradié.

On Monday evening, the three introduced themselves to a larger audience in the only televised debate before the membership vote.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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Ciotti remained true to his theories of a flood of immigrants, which gave him almost 40 percent of the votes in the primary elections a year ago.

At that time, the more moderate Valérie Pécresse prevailed, suffering a historic defeat for the civil rights with a result of 4.8 percent in the presidential elections.

Ciotti believes his time is now.

He advocated "a right that makes no apologies" and a crackdown on immigration policies.

Ciotti made a connection between immigration and crime.

25 percent of the prisoners in French prisons are foreigners, said the politician from the Mediterranean coast.

Ciotti is threatened with legal difficulties because the financial prosecutor's office has initiated proceedings against his ex-wife on suspicion of misappropriation of public funds.

Liberate Republicans from the "Phantom" Sarkozy

For Senate faction leader Retailleau, the aim is to "rid the party of the phantoms of the past".

One “phantom” plagues Retailleau in particular: former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

After a decade in the opposition it was necessary to "break with the past".

He argued that Republicans have disappointed voters by not delivering on campaign promises to control immigration and return state authority to the public housing estates while in power.

Sarkozy's famous saying that he would clean the outskirts with a high-pressure cleaner was never kept.

Retailleau attempted to overtake Ciotti on the right during the debate.

He criticized the National Assembly for sanctioning a member of the Rassemblement National for his "return home to Africa" ​​call.

The youngest of the trio, Pradié, tried to raise his profile by calling for uniforms to be compulsory in all schools and universities.

Pradié wants to counteract a creeping Islamization with uniform clothing regulations.

The MP from the rural constituency of Lot in the south-west also rejected raising the retirement age to 64.

In doing so, he contradicted his own Senate majority.

On one point, however, the trio agree.

A government coalition with the presidential party Renaissance is not an option for any of the three candidates.

Most recently, party founder Sarkozy recommended a pact with Macron's party to his former party friends.

Should none of the three candidates immediately receive an absolute majority, the 10th/11th

There will be a runoff between the top two finishers in December.