Philippe Torre and Philippe Prigent, lawyers for the party contesting the exclusion of Éric Ciotti.
uiAFP
The summary hearing to examine the validity of the exclusion of the president of the Republicans (LR) Éric Ciotti opened in confusion on Friday morning before the Paris judicial court, in the absence of the person concerned.
As soon as the debates opened, President Maïté Grison-Pascail requested a suspension to clarify the situation of lawyers Benoît Verger and Philippe Torre, who both claimed to be the sole legitimate representative of LR.
The court had to call for help the vice-president of the Paris bar, Me Vanessa Bousardo, to try to resolve this fratricidal war. After more than an hour of suspension, the court finally decided to hear the two lawyers.
The court will make its decision Friday evening, around 7 p.m.
“We don’t revoke twice”
In the courtroom, some smile but deep down it is the heart of this audience: who represents the Republicans today? Me Philippe Prigent, Eric Ciotti’s lawyer, is categorical: his exclusion from the party is not based on any legitimacy. “We learned that Eric Ciotti would have been excluded again by the political office this morning,” said the lawyer at the bar. “This means that the previous exclusion, on June 12, has no value,” he quips, “you don’t revoke it twice.”
According to Mr. Prigent, the political bureau could only be convened at the request of Mr. Ciotti or at the request of “at least a quarter of the national advisors” of the party. For the council, therefore, “the political bureau met in defiance of the texts”.
“Did the president request his own exclusion? I don’t think so,” insists the lawyer, who claims to have “never found so many irregularities in twenty-four hours.”
Speaking after him, Me Philippe Torre was surprised by the appointment of Annie Genevard as interim president of the party. “She is definitely gaining ground,” he quips, noting that the movement’s statutes only provide for a deputy vice-president. However, Mr. Torre continues, Mr. Ciotti “did not name any of them”.
Ciotti outside the statutes
Me Benoît Verger, lawyer for the LR post-exclusion of the deputy for Alpes-Maritimes, believes that Mr. Ciotti “placed himself outside the statutes”. “He does not have the right to use the logo” of the party, he insists, he had “no right to change the political orientation of the movement”.
Éric Ciotti and the executives of his party have entered into an open war since the first chose to ally with the National Rally (RN) for the early legislative elections of June 30 and July 7.
Common RN-LR candidate in 70 constituencies
In a press release released Thursday evening, the party assured that it had already designated more than 200 candidates, including the 59 outgoing deputies who did not follow their president.
For his part, the president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, announced Friday that there will be a joint RN-Republican candidate “in 70 constituencies” during the first round on June 30.
(afp)
