Xavier Bertrand put an end to the suspense by assuring Monday October 11 that he will participate in the LR congress of December 4 which will nominate the right-wing candidate for the 2022 presidential election. "It is the only way to have as quickly as possible a candidate of the right and the center ”, he said on the set of 20h of TF1.
This announcement puts an end to weeks of uncertainty because the president of Hauts-de-France, launched in the race in the spring, has so far repeated his opposition to the primary, convinced that the presidential election is the meeting between a man and the French.
"The easy way out was to go it alone" but "I did not want to make this choice because, in my DNA, there is the gathering and there is the union", explained Xavier Bertrand, who left LR in 2017. "I want to bring together all the French, so I must start with my political family", he added, hammering that "divided we are sure to lose, united we can win and I want to win ".
Relief for Republicans
His decision, announced two days before the deadline for submitting candidacies, elicited immense relief from LR, who feared the specter of a deadly double candidacy for the right. "I welcome Xavier Bertrand's decision" because "when the right is united and united, it wins," party chairman Christian Jacob assured AFP.
Among the other candidates for the congress, the LR deputy of Alpes-Maritimes Eric Ciotti greeted "with force" a "historic moment", and the LR mayor of La Garenne-Colombes Philippe Juvin a "wise decision", which "considerably strengthens the camp of the right and the center ”.
Serious things will now begin for the five candidates in the running, who count as heavyweights the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse (ex-LR) and the former European negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier (LR) .
Both are actively campaigning, and had several times in recent days called Xavier Bertrand to play the collective game in the name of "loyalty".
