His experience as a parliamentarian and his very good knowledge of the files made the difference.
Olivier Marleix, LR deputy for the 2nd constituency of Eure-et-Loir, has just been elected president of the Les Républicains et allies group in the National Assembly.
His only opponent, Julien Dive, deputy for the 2nd constituency of Aisne and representative of the young LR generation in the National Assembly, is beaten.
An expected victory for this experienced parliamentarian sitting at the Palais Bourbon since 2012 who was the favorite in the ballot.
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Former adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy, close to Laurent Wauquiez, Olivier Marleix is renowned for his criticism of Emmanuel Macron's policy, particularly in economic and industrial matters.
The person who wrote the last summary of the LR project led his campaign on the new parliamentary means offered to Republicans to weigh in on the debates in this troubled period.
“
We are an opposition group and we now have the means to act for the French
”, he pleaded, judging that this new involvement of the right in the National Assembly obliges the LR group to work on its political markers and to change their way of working.
A “
solid and rigorous
” line
Son of Alain Marleix, former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy, very connoisseur of the electoral map, Olivier Marleix had failed in 2019 to take the presidency of the LR group in Parliament.
At the time, he was opposed to a certain Damien Abad, who has since left Les Républicains to join the government of Elisabeth Borne.
This time, he therefore wins, in a context where his reputation as incorruptible, insensitive to the calls of the Macronist foot and where his "
solid and rigorous
" line made the difference.
After his thirty-minute speech to parliamentarians this morning, a deputy commented: “
Olivier Marleix is serious.
Unlike his opponent, he remained seated to speak.
He is an experienced man, solid but a little too techno
”.
Read alsoPresidency of the LR group at the Assembly: the match is played between Julien Dive and Olivier Marleix
He will chair a group of just over sixty members, all elected or re-elected despite Valérie Pécresse's very low score in the presidential election.
Bruno Retailleau also insists on the importance of the presidency of the LR group in the National Assembly in the new parliamentary context.
For the leader of the LR senators, Olivier Marleix will have a crucial role to play, in close connection with the senatorial majority.
“
It is a crucial election because a group president is the political linchpin of legislative life.
All choices go through him, he is an essential cog, especially within the Conference of Presidents
.
For Bruno Retailleau, the two groups in the Senate and the Assembly will have to "
review
" their working method.
"
We'll have to be very much in sync, him and I, if we're going to have any chance of weighing in.
The joint joint committee will become a very important place where there will be a real balance of power
”.
Out of 14 elected members of this commission, Les Républicains will be 6 (5 senators, 1 deputy).
“
We will be stronger than Together!
», stresses Bruno Retailleau.
In any case, the stakes were high for LR.
To the point that certain tenors of the party got personally involved in the negotiations.
"
Laurent Wauquiez and Michel Barnier made many calls before the vote
," says a parliamentarian.
Xavier Bertrand was present in a café not far from the National Assembly at the time of the ballot.