The leader of the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party, Eric Ciotti, was removed from his party on Wednesday after unilaterally announcing an agreement with the far-right National Rally (RN) for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The controversial alliance announcement was made on Tuesday and provoked a huge backlash across France, including from his own party.
Following the European elections in France, which saw Jordan Bardella's RN win for the first time with more than 31% of the vote, President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly to hold new parliamentary elections on 30 June and 7 July (1st and 2nd round). The last time a French president dissolved the National Assembly was almost 30 years ago.
This decision has prompted parties on both left and right to consider forming alliances to stand a greater chance of winning more seats. Left-wing parties have already agreed to put aside their differences to form a "popular front," to counter the "far-right."
Backlash from several LR members
Ciotti responded by calling for a alliance between conservatives and the far-right, which has never happened before in French history, with many political figures and leading members of LR immediately disassociated themselves from this decision.
Many called on Eric Ciotti to resign, which he is refused to do. These include Valérie Pécresse, former party presidential candidate in 2022, or Gérard Larcher, current President of the Senate, who believes that "he is no longer in a position to chair our movement."
À la suite des déclarations d’@ECiotti j’estime qu’il ne peut plus présider notre mouvement et doit se démettre de son mandat de président des @lesRepublicains
— Gérard Larcher (@gerard_larcher) June 11, 2024
Translation: Following Eric Ciotti's statements, I consider that he can no longer chair our movement and must resign as president of Les Républicains
On the other hand, Ciotti fervently still defends his position."We need to unite our forces," stated the leader of LR after he explained he's been in talks with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella to form an alliance.
The goal is to defeat French President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renaissance party in the coming parliamentary elections. While most party members strongly disagree with him, Ciotti also received support from some other members of Les Républicains.
While French conservative party is doing poorly in the polls and obtained just over 7% of the vote in Sunday's European election, this alliance threatened to irrevocably tear apart the party.
Shutting down the party headquarters
To add to the drama, earlier on Wednesday the LR leader shut down the party's headquarters and gave order to all the permanent members of staff to vacate the premises before 12:00 on Wednesday.
This follows the extraordinary political bureau meeting, initiated by LR vice-president Annie Genevard, which was planned at the party headquarters in response to Eric Ciotti's decision. However, the LR leader took the initiative to curb his possible exclusion from his political family by closing shockingly closing down the party headquarters.
"The meeting called by Annie Genevard does not meet the legal requirements of our statutes and internal rules," Eric Ciotti immediately stated on X. He went on to say at around 13:00 that the closure of the headquarters was linked to "threats and disorder," describing the rest as "nonsense" and that he "has to guarantee the safety of the staff."
J'entends beaucoup d'élucubrations sur la fermeture du siège LR.
J'ai pris cette décision à la suite des menaces reçues et des désordres d'hier. Je dois garantir la sécurité du personnel. De surcroît, aucune réunion n'a jamais été prévue au siège cet après-midi. https://t.co/YdkTikAseC — Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) June 12, 2024
Translation: I'm hearing a lot of nonsense about the closure of the LR headquarters. I took this decision following the threats and disturbances yesterday. I have to guarantee the safety of the staff. What's more, no meeting was ever scheduled at the headquarters this afternoon.
"Ciotti has taken the party hostage for his own interests in Nice; he's flipped out," said one of those present staff members, according to Le Parisien. At the European elections, the RN won 37.73% of the votes in the Alpes-Maritimes constituency, far ahead of the LR list, which got slightly less than 9% of the votes.
Following the meeting of the political bureau, LR announced on Twitter at 17:00 on Wednesday: "We have just voted unanimously to exclude Eric Ciotti from our political family. He is no longer a member of Les Républicains."
Eric Ciotti rejected this conclusion, writing on social media: "None of the decisions taken at this meeting have any legal consequences. I am and remain the president of our political party, elected by the members."
End of the French cordon sanitaire?
LR finds its origins in many French leaders such as General de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac, and Nicolas Sarkozy – who all firmly opposed the possibility of any alliance with the RN (formerly the Front National). By ending the cordon sanitaire, the current leader of LR is marking a turning point in French political history and breaking with the policy of the party and its predecessors.
For the RN, this represents an unprecedented opportunity. Marine Le Pen reacted to this outstretched hand and hailed Eric Ciotti's "courageous choice" and "sense of responsibility." She added that she hoped "a significant number of LR executives will follow him" in his proposal.
"40 years of a pseudo-sanitary cordon, which has led to the loss of many elections, is in the process of disappearing," said the leader of the RN members of the National Assembly.
Jordan Bardella confirmed an "agreement" between the RN and the LR presidency on Tuesday evening and that his party would be supporting "dozens" of LR candidates for seats.
What's next?
If a coalition between LR and RN wins the French parliamentary elections to come in just about two weeks, this could lead to a new and unprecedented 'cohabitation' (a divided government with a Prime Minister and President from two different political parties) between Macron and a RN Prime Minister. Le Pen said she would support Jordan Bardella for this position.
While Les Républicains seat in the European parliament with the centre-right EPP (European's People Party) and the RN with far-right ID (Identity and Democracy), the implications for this deal at the European level remain uncertain.
