The former boss of the deputies of the presidential majority in the National Assembly castigates the attitude of Rachida Dati, whom he accuses of preparing the municipal elections of 2026. Gilles Le Gendre learned on Friday June 14 that he was facing another candidate invested in his constituency: Jean Laussucq.
“By removing the Renaissance label from me, they gave me back my freedom and I intend to use it.” The outgoing deputy for Paris, Gilles Le Gendre, reacted this Sunday June 16 on BFMTV to the inauguration, by the presidential majority, of an elected official from the 7th arrondissement facing him in the 2nd Parisian constituency.
“I am running under the label of the presidential majority, but free,” said the elected official on the set of BFMTV.
The latter explains having discovered “on the internet” the announcement of an investiture of his own camp opposite his in the constituency located between the 5th and 7th arrondissements of the capital. “No message, no call from anyone from the party leadership,” even explains Gilles Le Gendre.
A break with the majority? “Never”, believes the one who still recalls his “freedom” by mentioning the fact of not having voted for the immigration law.
Rachida Dati “prepares for the municipal elections”
Jean Laussucq is the one who was chosen by the Macronist camp to wear the presidential colors on June 30 and July 7. The latter is a Paris councilor within the “Changer Paris” group and elected representative of the 7th arrondissement, whose mayor is none other than Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture in the Attal government.
Gilles Le Gendre also evokes “a political will” emanating directly from the rue de Valois, or even from the Élysée Palace.
“I suspect that the affair was between Ms. Dati, the party leadership and perhaps the President of the Republic,” he says.
The former boss of LREM deputies in the National Assembly, now abandoned by his camp, does not mince his words against the Minister of Culture. “Madame Dati came into the majority last January and we all thought that it was to strengthen it. And her first intervention, in the very crucial first election which presents itself to French politics, is to sow division in our constituency”, denounces the elected official.
For him, Rachida Dati would actually only like to “strengthen her position in her district and prepare for the 2026 municipal elections”.
Gilles Le Gendre, however, confirms that he is continuing his battle and is not withdrawing his candidacy. According to him, he is “the only one to make a synthesis between the very powerful left-wing sensitivity in the 5th arrondissement and the very powerful right-wing sensitivity of the seventh”.
The legislative elections will take place on June 30 and July 7 in France. The 577 deputies of the National Assembly are expected to be renewed following the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament, a first since 1997.
