The members of the Républicains party have overwhelmingly backed former Interior Minister and party leader Bruno Retailleau to represent them in next year’s French presidential election.
Perhaps signalling a shift to the right in French politics, the liberal-conservative political party, long seen as the heir of the Gaullist tradition, has thrown its weight behind the Senator from the Vendée, the historic bastion of traditional Catholic conservatism in France, dating back to before the Revolution.
Over the weekend, Les Républicains (LR) members were called on to share their strategic preference as the party heads into the campaign to replace President Emmanuel Macron, who is prohibited from running in this race due to term limits. The members were asked whether they would prefer to back their party boss or hold a closed or open primary, Le Figaro reported.
With over six in ten members participating in the vote, 73.8 per cent voted to support ex-Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has staked out the conservative wing of the party, taking strong stances against mass migration and the proliferation of Islamism through organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, with Retailleau widely believed to have been behind the leak of an internal French government report — to the chagrin of Macron — outlining the multi-generational campaign by the Islamist group to create an effective fifth column in France and throughout Europe to advance Sharia Law.
Commenting on the backing of his party, Retailleau said: “I thank all the members of Les Républicains, the executives of our federations, and all the elected officials who, once again, place their trust in me by designating me as the candidate of our movement for the presidential election. I had promised them to give them a voice. I now promise them to go all the way to ensure our ideas prevail.”
The former government minister vowed to restore “order, justice, and freedom” to France, while promising a project of “national reconciliation” around a common goal of renewal.
“The time for half-measures is over; the time has now come for action and convictions. The time is for courage and truth. I extend my hand to all those who believe in France and love her,” he said.
“I will devote all my energy to uniting the right, to convincing the French people, and to fighting against the pessimists, the fatalists, and those who settle for the status quo. I will be the candidate of the gathering of the French people to be, in one year, the president of France’s recovery.”
Although the vote does not prohibit other members of the Républicains from jumping into the race, the overwhelming result will likely end speculation of a so-called “primary of the right” favoured by figures such as former LR leader Laurent Wauquiez, who has argued that it is imperative for the right-wing to coalesce around a single candidate next year, lest a divided field result in conservatives being locked out of the second round of voting in favour of Marine Le Pen’s populists and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-leftists.
Intriguingly, Wauquiez, who leads the Républicains bloc in the National Assembly, has argued that a right-wing primary should include the likes of former Paris mayoral hopeful Sarah Knafo and her Reconquest party boss Éric Zemmour, who has long been derided as being “far-right” and outside the Overton Window of acceptability for centrist parties like LR.
Wauquiez has said it would be impossible for the party to succeed while “excommunicating” the 7 per cent of voters who support Zemmour’s hardline anti-migration party, and that if they did so, they would merely push their supporters towards Le Pen’s National Rally.
Retailleau, who has so far rejected any alliance with Zemmour, or indeed Le Pen, will likely attempt to cast himself as the only non-Macronist with the ability to beat out Le Pen or her deputy and potential “plan B” candidate Jordan Bardella, and attempt to use his position to strong-arm other candidates to step aside and back his play.
However, such a strategy would be risky, with a divided “right” susceptible to losing out to the far left or to Macron’s former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, who currently stands second in the polls behind Bardella or Le Pen.
For Retailleau to succeed, he would likely need to convince some National Rally voters to abandon their party while keeping his own base together, with the pitch likely hinging on playing to the Le Pen base on issues like migration and Islamisation, while critiquing the National Rally on issues of economics, with Retailleau favouring more Laissez Faire approach and Le Pen/Bardella pursuing a more traditionally Gaullist position of patriotic state intervention into the economy and generous welfare packages for natives.
Conversely, his Le Penist opponents will likely attempt to hang Macron around Retailleu’s neck, given that the LR boss had previously served in a coalition government with the left under President Macron until last year.
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