French Republicans elect Eric Ciotti as party chairman

Eric Ciotti received 53.7 per cent of the vote, the party's commanding chairman, Annie Genevard, announced. The outgoing president of former President Nicolas Sarcozy's party, Christian Jacob, resigned in late June. Ciotti belongs to the party's very conservative arm and follows a hard line in immigration policy. This 57-year-old politician from southeastern France is also known as “Monsieur Sécurié”. Opposers accuse him that in the past he has eased differences between the right and the national right.

Ciotti took the lead in the first round of elections last Sunday. His opponent, 62-year-old liberal-conservative senator Bruno Retailleau, won 46.3% of the vote in the second round. About 91,000 party members were called to vote.

Ciotti now faces the challenge of removing the conservative party immediately from the crisis following its disappointing outcome in presidential elections and establishing a clear container line. Republican candidate in these elections Valérie Pécresse received only 4.8 per cent in the first round of elections in April. The strongest opposition party in France is currently the right-wing national Rally National (RN) around Marine Le Pen.

For President Emmanuel Macron's government, the crucial question is whether co-operation with the new party leadership is possible. The Macron Liberals, after losing the absolute majority in the National Assembly in the June legislative elections, now depend on the opposition vote. The Republican parliamentary group is divided on the issue.

During the election campaign, Ciotti had tried to convince party members of a double alliance: with him at the party's helm, they would at the same time take Laurent Waquiez, head of the Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes region, as the next candidate for president. “You're the natural hope of the right (...), I'll help you make this happen,” said Citti in a joint presentation.

During his long career as MP, Ciotti once succeeded in adopting a law bearing his name. This law envisioned lowering social assistance for missing and abolished parents of students after three years. Among other things, Ciotti recommends the introduction of France's Christian roots in the Constitution. He also makes sense to return to mandatory military service, though the investigative newspaper “Canard Enchaé” found that Ciotti himself had used the help of political friends not to join the army.

During the current legislature, Ciotti made a stir, demanding that ties be mandatory at the National Assembly. That call was immediately attended by almost all female deputies of the leftist coalition Nupes.