June 19, seat of the Republicans. The executives are brought together in a thematic seminar. In the early afternoon, they are invited to phosphorus on the presidential regime. The boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, who hides his ambitions less and less, intervenes: "On this subject, we, how do we designate our presidential candidate? Laughs around the table and ... no response.
It has been eight months since Christian Jacob is president of the party and the subject of the primary, particularly sensitive in a family polytraumatized by internal wars, remains taboo. "It's the elephant in the room that nobody wants to see," sighs a frame. With a Jean Castex from the ranks of the right at the head of the government and an Edouard Philippe very popular in nature, some are in a hurry to move forward.
Jacob wants to get rid of the primary
The postponement to the fall of a national council scheduled for July 11 illustrates wonderfully the sensitivity of the subject. On June 25, most executives learned in L'Opinion that on the occasion of a national council in July, Christian Jacob intended to renew the political office (BP) and the national investiture commission. Howls from Gérard Larcher, the boss of the deputies LR Damien Abad, the deputy Julien Aubert, the MEP François-Xavier Bellamy or even the president of the Republicans in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau. The lack of transparency as the calendar - to recompose a BP before the senatorials - shock. "But it is indeed the battle of the primary which began, deciphers a fine connoisseur of the mysteries of the party. Normally, we don't give a damn about the BP which is a recording chamber. But not this year… ”
In question, article 60 paragraph 1 of the party statutes which provides that said statutes may be revised by a Congress "on the proposal of the political bureau". However, the statutes today provide for the organization of a primary open to all right-wing sympathizers. Christian Jacob has never made a secret of his desire to get rid of primary school. Hence the stake of the BP. Bruno Retailleau even threatened, if the national council was maintained, to present a list competing with that of the direction for the composition of the BP.
If the open primary has a lot of internal detractors after the failure of 2017, which some impute to it, it still retains defenders, like Gérard Larcher, Valérie Pécresse (even if she left LR) or Bruno Retailleau. “It has many advantages, as the parties no longer have the strength to impose a candidate. And then, it is difficult to speak to people once they have had it, details the senator from Vendée. In any case, I am waiting to know the alternative to select our candidate… ”
"We must not do as in the years 1980-1990 and lock everything," worries Julien Aubert who defends him, an "intermediate procedure" between primary open to all and "closed" primary, open to LR activists only. As for Laurent Wauquiez, he also ensures that the designation is not padlocked because he believes in his chances in the event of an internal vote.
Three options on the table by the end of the year
During the last BP of July 1, Jean-François Copé further increased the pressure by saying that failing to think about his presidential incarnation, the right risked turning to… Edouard Philippe. Christian Jacob has made a commitment to fix things before the end of the year with three possible options: maintaining an open primary, setting up a closed primary or investiture of a man "who go to the people "in a Gaullian approach. "Our racehorse should not become a Troyes horse," laughs an elected official: everyone knows that the party boss supports the mayor of the city of Aube, François Baroin, who returns in the fall the subject of his possible candidacy.
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Internally, however, more and more people are asking questions about his determination to go there. With their eyes riveted on the polls, the LRs also observe that the Trojan does not for the moment take leadership over Xavier Bertrand. Which has already excluded, he says, from going through the primary box. “A man who goes to the people is very good. But the risk is that there are several, squeaks an LR frame. At the risk that in the end, there will be none for the right… ”
