They were three in the running, there are only two left.
LR activists placed, after a first round, Eric Ciotti and Bruno Retailleau at the top of the ballot for the presidency of the party.
Aurélien Pradié is eliminated for the second round which will take place next weekend.
The more than 90,000 LR activists were called to vote this weekend to elect their favorite among the three candidates.
It was necessary to obtain an absolute majority to be immediately elected president of the party, but since no candidate obtained it, there will be a second round next weekend.
In detail, Eric Ciotti obtained 42.73% of the vote, Bruno Retailleau 34.45%.
It is therefore they who will face each other in the second round.
Aurélien Pradié finished 3rd with 22.29% of the votes of activists.
Voter turnout was 72.67%.
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Éric Ciotti, 57, deputy for the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, had faced Valérie Pécresse for the presidential primary.
He had then created the surprise by obtaining 39.05% of the votes.
He has recently, with his ex-wife, been the subject of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office for suspicion of fictitious jobs.
Bruno Retailleau, senator from Vendée, president of the LR group in the Senate, has a line close to Éric Ciotti, defending a hard right.
Aurélien Pradié, 36, MP for Lot, is currently secretary general of the party.
He is the most reforming of the candidates since he has already expressed his desire to reform everything, “the name, the headquarters, our organization, our message”.
The new president of LR will have to breathe new life into the party.
Its presidential candidate, Valérie Pécresse, obtained less than 5% of the vote last April: the worst score for this party which, under the UMP label, had Nicolas Sarkozy elected in 2007. This defeat was confirmed during legislative elections with the election of only 64 deputies, against 229 before.
