Éric Ciotti is playing a coin toss about his future
In formalizing his Republican candidacy for the presidency, on July 26, Éric Ciotti tossed a coin in the air. It will fall again on Sunday evening or – more likely – next Sunday.
battery side? The elected maralpino succeeds Christian Jacob and gives new life to his political career. Side face? He has suffered a bitter failure that has hampered his ambitions for the future.
At the end of 2021, the deputy from the Maritime Alps had created the surprise by coming first in the first round of the LR primaries. He deftly rode the wave of security that swept through France just months before the presidential election, spearheading a virulent accusation against Emmanuel Macron, but refraining from scratching “do you love” Eric Zemour.
This strategy, successful in the first round, left him standing KO at the end of the second: the other candidates united behind his competitor Valérie Pécresse, elected with a comfortable majority.
Lessons from failure
LR’s “Monsieur security” learned the lesson of this setback. For this new campaign, less than a year later, he has sought to erase the more divisive aspects of his speech.
The tribune distanced himself from Zemmour and watered down his diatribes. Until he repeats at will that his main competitor, Senator from the Vendée Bruno Retailleau, is finally “far to the right” of him.
In doing so, he ran the risk of smoothing, even diluting his image. This bias was most flagrant during the televised debate pitting him against his rivals Nov. 21 on LCI.
But Eric Ciotti had no other choice. Re-testing the line between right and far right could have guaranteed him an enviable score this Sunday, but identically reproduced the nightmare of the primaries for the second round.
Beautiful in viewfinder
The head of the powerful LR 06 Federation, which brings together almost 10% of the total members, no longer shows any ambitions for the presidential elections. In 2027, its candidate will be Laurent Wauquiez. He “will settle”if his paladin moves to the Elysee, of the Ministry of the Interior, which he has openly dreamed of for years.
Locally, he barely hides his eagerness to do battle with his “best enemy”, Christian Estrosi, who is determined to rob him of the Nice town hall in 2026.
If the Republican polls favor him, he can hope to rely on his party to lead the fight for city hall. Otherwise, the counters will be reset. This is to say whether the result of the ballot will be carefully observed in the capital of the Côte d’Azur.
