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PARIS — It’s been a frenetic 24 hours for the French right.
The leaders of Les Républicains — the historical party of French conservatism — voted on Wednesday to expel their own president, Éric Ciotti, who had attempted to seal an agreement with the far-right National Rally for the upcoming legislative elections.
“By leading secret negotiations, without consulting our political party and its members, Éric Ciotti is totally breaking with our statutes and the stance taken by Les Républicains,” the party’s political committee wrote in a statement, adding it would field candidates “with clarity and independence” in the legislative elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7.
On Tuesday, Ciotti said his party would unite with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s camp in a joint effort to beat Macron. But the proposal shocked key voices within Les Républicains, including its 2022 presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse and Senate President Gérard Larcher, and immediately led to calls for Ciotti’s resignation.
In the face of his expulsion from the party, a defiant Ciotti wrote on X: “I am and remain president of our political party, elected by its members! None of the decisions which were taken during this meeting have legal consequences.”
Les Républicains’ Secretary-General Annie Genevard had called an extraordinary political committee meeting Wednesday to decide Ciotti’s fate — a decision which Ciotti called “illegal” as he closed down the party’s headquarters, citing security concerns.
Despite Ciotti’s objections, the party’s political committee gathered in a separate venue and voted to expel him.
Genevard will take over the party’s interim leadership alongside François-Xavier Bellamy, who led the party’s list in the European election.
Macron took the French political class aback when he announced his decision to call early elections after his party’s debacle in the European election, leaving parties on both ends of the political spectrum in a hurry to build alliances. While left-wing forces are making good progress on running together, an alliance of right-wing parties now seems out of the picture.
