They are five suitors and one candidate.
While the right is still looking for a candidate for the 2022 presidential election, several putative candidates meet today in a Parisian hotel, whose name remains secret, around Jean Leonetti, mayor (LR) of Antibes and responsible for finding a tie-breaking system and Christian Jacob, president of LR, who would like to wait a few weeks and bet on a natural candidate.
Activists will have to vote at a congress on September 25.
Read also: Primary: right-wing candidates meet on July 20
Among the contenders: the president (Libres!) Of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, Laurent Wauquiez, president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, the leader of senators LR Bruno Retailleau, and doctor Philippe Juvin, also mayor (LR) of La Garennes Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine). If each cultivates its political capital and its notoriety, all agree on one point: to refuse the “presidential” strategy of Xavier Bertrand. According to information from Le Point magazine, he will meet Christian Jacob, Jean Leonetti and Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, on Wednesday, July 21, to move towards "a process of bringing together". Before any agreement, some maintain the idea of a primary, like the one mentioned in the columns of Figaro. Overview.
Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France region
Former Minister of Higher Education and Research (2007-2011)
Former Minister of the Budget, State Reform and Public Accounts and government spokesperson (2011-2012).
Valérie Pécresse, head of the Ile-de-France regional council MARTIN BUREAU / AFP
Candidate?
Valérie Pécresse has always wanted to build her presidential ambition step by step.
After leaving Les Républicains following the party's low score in the 2019 European elections, she has established herself as one of the political figures in the health crisis, demonstrating logistical agility.
During the regional elections campaign, she never officially revealed her intentions for 2022. Except when she vaguely stated that
"the hour of women"
had come.
In an interview with La Provence, a few days after her re-election at the head of the region (45.9%), Valérie Pécresse took another step towards 2022: she will "make her voice heard" this summer.
There is little doubt about his candidacy in the coming weeks.
His opinion on the primary
Valérie Pécresse is one of the signatories of the Figaro tribune, calling for a primary.
She refuses the designation of a candidate by polls, as the party leadership wishes, and rejects the solitary strategy put in place by Xavier Bertrand, already a presidential candidate, without going through the primary box.
Laurent Wauquiez, President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
Former Secretary of State for Employment (2008-2010)
Former Minister of Higher Education and Research (2011-2012)
Former President of the Republicans (2017-2019)
Laurent Wauquiez, the evening of his re-election, June 27, 2021 JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
Candidate ?
Elected at the head of the party in 2017, Laurent Wauquiez asserts himself by a political line very anchored to the right.
But, he found himself weakened after LR's score in the 2019 European elections: he resigned in June and imposed a withdrawal from the media and from the national political scene.
Between 2019 and 2021, Laurent Wauquiez is mainly focusing on his region.
Triumphantly re-elected at the end of June (55.20%), the former mayor of Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire) begins to advance his pawns for 2022. Without having declared himself for all that.
His opinion on the primary
Laurent Wauquiez signed the call for the primary in
Le Figaro
.
He hopes to impose himself on his political DNA anchored very to the right: security, immigration and secularism.
Michel Barnier, former chief Brexit negotiator
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004-2005)
Former Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (2007-2009)
Former European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services (2010-2014)
Michel Barnier, former Brexit negotiator.
Le Figaro
Candidate ?
Less known than some regional headliners, Michel Barnier relies on his experience and his weight on the European and international scene to influence his camp.
If he has never officially unveiled his candidacy, he has regularly spoken of his desire to be “useful” and of his “desire” for 2022. In particular, recalling his years as minister with Jacques Chirac.
To break his image of "centrist Europeanist" far from the concrete of the French, and to speak to the electoral base of the right Michel Barnier had proposed a moratorium on immigration a few weeks ago during a Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro -LCI.
His opinion on the primary
If he wishes to be a candidate, Michel Barnier nevertheless calls for the unity of his political family.
He did not sign the
Figaro
platform
, and refuses all divisions resulting from a primary.
“We have to find a method.
The primaries are not the only solution ”
, he affirmed on July 19 on Europe1.
Bruno Retailleau, President of the LR group in the Senate
Current senator of Vendée (since 2004)
Former president of the Pays de la Loire region (2015-2017)
Bruno Retailleau, patron of the Republican senators.
JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP
Candidate ?
Political successor of François Fillon at the head of the Force Republican movement since 2017, Bruno Retailleau has long positioned himself on a political line close to the “Manif pour Tous”.
Putative candidate for the presidential election since 2019, and he has officially been a candidate for the right-wing primary since the summer of 2020. At the start of the year, he launched his “2022” application to be able to follow his campaign.
His opinion on the primary
He is one of the signatories of the
Figaro
tribune
.
The only way, according to him, to avoid an elimination of the right in the first round of the presidential election.
Philippe Juvin, mayor (LR) of La Garenne-Colombes
Former President of the Hauts-de-Seine General Council (2004-2009)
Philippe Juvin, face of the crisis and mayor of Garennes Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine) Francois Bouchon / Le Figaro
Former MEP (2009-2019)
Candidate ?
Emblematic face of the health crisis, Philippe Juvin has often put forward his double hat: emergency manager of the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris and local elected.
Since the beginning of the year, he has been advancing his pawns for 2022. In an interview with Paris Match at the beginning of the year, the doctor said he was preparing for the presidential election.
In recent months, Philippe Juvin has not hesitated to criticize head-on the health and vaccination strategy of Emmanuel Macron.
As if he was already in the countryside in front of him.
His opinion on the primary
Without having signed the
Figaro
platform
, the Parisian doctor had called for a primary process to decide between the candidates. Last August, he declared last summer in L'Opinion that he did not want a
"competition of people but of ideas (...) I will defend a certain number of them on this occasion. If no one takes them back, we will have to see what attitude to have. "
