When he leaves the National Investiture Commission (CNI) held this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Republicans (LR), a heavyweight of the party sighs, in the form of an understatement: "There is still room for diplomacy . All the ban and the back ban of this strategic body met to discuss the case of the 15th and 17th districts of Paris, the two hot spots of the capital for the Parisian right. In question: two outgoing mayors (LR), Geoffroy Boulard in the XVII arrondissement, and Philippe Goujon in the XV, who did not wish to publicly support Rachida Dati and called for a larger gathering of the right and the center.
Big surprise this Wednesday morning: Rachida Dati does not come to the CNI. In his absence, it was however decided to invest as head of the Geoffroy Boulard list in the XVIIth district. After several weeks of negotiations, he finally agreed to support Rachida Dati to obtain the nomination of his party. On the other hand, the outgoing mayor intends to compose himself the rest of his list while the mayor of the 7th arrondissement wants to impose certain relatives on him and categorically refuses the presence of Senator Catherine Dumas.
A complex situation for the party
In the 15th arrondissement, it was a failure. Faced with Philippe Goujon's refusal to make a clear commitment behind Rachida Dati, it was agreed to reconvene an CNI next week in order to allow final negotiations. Firmly established, the outgoing borough mayor is the winner in several polls. The situation is complex for the party leadership. Its president Christian Jacob cannot bring himself to present a list to the outgoing mayor, who has presided over the LR federation of Paris for years, but also cannot invest him if he refuses to support Rachida Dati.
It is in this context that, according to our information, Rachida Dati called Geoffroy Boulard after the CNI to tell him that she did not recognize the authority of the CNI and that she would present a list against him. And against the choice of his own party. Enough to immediately set the Parisian right on fire. Yet another stroke of poker by Rachida Dati, a lover of power relations, or a real decision? If she invested a list against Geoffroy Boulard, Rachida Dati would support a dissenting list to the party of which she is the official candidate. All the more improbable that number 3 on the LR list in the XVII arrondissement is none other than Frédéric Péchenard, the vice-president of LR!
"She's a threat specialist ..."
"I can't believe it," slips a party oil. If she does that, she will lose immediately. She necessarily needs advisers from Paris in the 15th and 17th districts of Paris if she wants to reach the capital. But at 3.30 p.m., a tweet from Rachida Dati confirms this: the LR candidate chooses the balance of power. “The choice of the CNI to rule in my absence is a clear and meaningful decision. […] I will not let history repeat itself. From this day on, I take all my freedom in this campaign, ”she writes.
My reaction to the CNI @lesRepublicains of this day pic.twitter.com/MrWayeOWU6
- Rachida Dati ن (@datirachida) January 8, 2020Could Rachida Dati dissent from her own political family of which she is the official candidate? Contacted by Le Parisien, her team refused to answer us. "We cancel everything and start again," anticipates a tenor from the Parisian right. “Lost for lost, we can invest someone else in their place. But she is a threat specialist… ”, confides an adviser from Paris.
In the entourage of Christian Jacob, we demine: Rachida Dati would "focus only on one subject": the presence of Catherine Dumas on the list of the seventeenth arrondissement. “It's epiphenomenal, the CNI is sovereign, it has invested a head of the list, which is Geoffroy Boulard. For the rest, we have until February 18 to submit the lists, ”we demine for the time being, rue de Vaugirard. "Things must calm down, otherwise we are really crazy," fears a party oil.
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PODCAST. Municipal in Paris: mission impossible for Rachida Dati?
