Even better than the first round.
Members of the Republicans party are even more involved than in the first round in the nomination of their candidate for the presidential election.
After exactly 26 hours of voting, the turnout for the second round of the LR congress exceeds that reached in the first round at the same time, announces the management on Twitter.
76.6
%
participation in the second round of the LR congress at 10 a.m.
The Republicans
Remember that 73.6% of the nearly 140,000 LR members had expressed themselves at the same time in the first round.
The first round, which promised to be tight, was rich in surprises as it saw Eric Ciotti take first place (25.6% of the vote) while the two heavyweights Xavier Bertrand and Michel Barnier were narrowly eliminated.
Valérie Pécresse qualified with 25% of the vote, a few hundred votes behind her competitor.
Having very quickly received the support of her unhappy rivals, carrying a line considered more unifying, she appears to many as the favorite.
During a flash between-rounds, voluntarily reduced to its shortest duration to avoid deadly heartbreaks, the candidate has according to her team recorded the rallying of 170 parliamentarians.
" To assemble "
"I am a woman who wins and who does," assured the president of the Ile-de-France region on Thursday, boasting "the ability to bring together all the sensibilities of the right": according to her, "on the side of the Élysée Palace, they will have to rewrite their scenario ”of a second round facing the far right in April 2022.“ Dare the right because we need it, ”Eric Ciotti told him, praising a project faithful to François Fillon, very firm on immigration and insecurity, "which best corresponds to what right-wing voters expect in this country".
Everyone has already committed, by signing the statutes of this primary, to campaign for the winner.
But the hardest part is likely to begin for the nominated candidate, since he will have the heavy task of winning a party still recovering after its electoral woes.
Read alsoPécresse-Ciotti, an unexpected finale
Beaten in the second round in 2012, eliminated in the first in 2017 ... LR certainly posted good scores in the intermediate elections (municipal and regional in particular).
But in 2022, either LR reaches the second round, or its future as a major government party will be compromised.
The Gaullist party is still lagging behind in the polls, behind Emmanuel Macron and the far right: Valérie Pécresse is credited with 10 to 11% of the vote and Eric Ciotti from 5 to 6%.
The best placed on the right up to now was Xavier Bertrand, eliminated in the first round of the congress, the LR members having obviously not forgiven him his resounding departure from the party in 2017. LR hopes that the appointment of his candidate will give him a boost whip in opinion.
VIDEO.
Éric Ciotti and Valérie Pécresse qualified for the second round of the LR primary
But the party must also get out of the pincers that reduce its living space, between the macronie which tries to attract part of the right-wing electorate, and the far right now represented by two candidates: Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour.
The latter formalized his candidacy on Tuesday, the eve of the opening of the LR congress, before a big meeting on Sunday, the day after the result of the Pécresse / Ciotti match.
On the majority side, it was Monday that the "common house" was launched, bringing together the bets supporting the re-election of Emmanuel Macron.
Judging that "the right has taken over the leadership", the direction of LR wants to see in this telescoping a sign of the central place taken over by the party, five months before the presidential election.
