On the evening of Thursday, June 27, Eric Ciotti called on his LR and RN supporters in Nice to “generally mobilize” during the two rounds of the legislative elections to allow his alliance with the far right to “win, govern France and straighten it out.” “I know that you are proud and happy about the liberation of thought,” he declared in front of some 300 people who had come to the port of Nice for this first meeting since the announcement of his alliance, the holding of which was only made public 30 minutes in advance.
Among his supporters, Théo, 16, an activist in the Young Republicans, admitted that he did not expect an alliance with the RN. “But we need that to save France from the decline that Mr. Macron is making it suffer, and to continue to exist,” assured the high school student. A long-time RN activist, Evelyne Delval, 55, secretary at the Nice University Hospital, appreciated the outgoing MP’s speech: “What he says is reality. We live in a working-class neighborhood and it’s our daily life. I’ve always liked Mr. Ciotti. His positions weren’t strong enough, but now I’m happy.”
Dark picture. After an offensive speech by his deputy Patrick Baqué, a surgeon from Nice who called for moving the “sanitary cordon” to fight against what he calls “the racist, anti-Semitic and anti-French left”, Mr. Ciotti painted a dark picture of the situation of Nice and France in terms of public finances but also security and immigration.
Denouncing President Emmanuel Macron, “the man who was worth 1,000 billion euros in debt”, the MP ruled out the Macronist vote as an alternative. “Macronism is over. On Sunday, there will be the choice between the alliance of the rights or the extreme left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Matignon, Sandrine Rousseau Minister of the Interior, Rachel Keke in Culture,” he said.
“Indecent ». “It’s indecent and factually false,” replied his Macronist opponent in the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, Graig Monetti, also in a meeting at the same time. “There are a lot of people from Nice and French people who are republicans, progressives, democrats, centrists and who strongly reject the extremes,” he said.
During the 2022 legislative elections, Mr. Ciotti, MP for the constituency since 2007, won nearly 32% of the votes in the first round against 26% for Mr. Monetti, and won with 56% of the votes in the second round. This year, the support of the RN and Reconquête! could bring him closer to the 50% mark in the first round.
© Agence France-Presse
