While Eric Ciotti clarifies his RN-LR alliance, President LR revealed a death threat letter that he received. She directly points to her rapprochement with Jordan Bardella.
20:04 – After Macron’s “at the same time”, the “‘in a second time’ with Bardella”, quips Xavier Bertrand
In the columns of World, the Republican Xavier Bertrand does not hide his opposition to the RN-LR alliance defended by Éric Ciotti. “We already had the ‘at the same time’ with Emmanuel Macron, we now have [le] ‘in a second step’ with Bardella, who already explains to you: ‘You understand, we cannot do everything with cohabitation'”, he mocked, while the boss of the RN recently returned to various measures of program of his party. “I have known them for a long time. They are protesting, they are incapable of governing,” said Xavier Bertrand.
18:31 – A candidate from Meurthe-et-Moselle has his nomination withdrawn by Éric Ciotti
Wednesday evening, Éric Ciotti announced in a press release that he was withdrawing his nomination from Louis-Joseph Gannat, candidate of the RN-LR alliance for the legislative elections in Meurthe-et-Moselle. He is accused of having made “anti-Semitic, homophobic, filthy remarks” with various accounts, under a pseudonym, on social networks.
18:00 – A mayor from various right becomes deputy of an RN candidate
The various right-wing mayor of Marignane, Éric Le Dissès, concretizes his rapprochement with the party of Jordan Bardella. He has, in fact, agreed to become the substitute for RN candidate Franck Allisio in the twelfth constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, revealed Le Figaro. The mayor is also vice-president of the metropolis and the department alongside Martine Vassal. The latter withdrew delegations from him following his rapprochement with the RN but cannot remove him from his functions.
17:30 – Is the RN program dangerous for the economy?
In a detailed document this Wednesday, Medef judged the measures proposed by the National Rally for the French Economy to be “inappropriate” and “dangerous”. The first French employers’ organization believes, as for the NFP, that the RN program would cause “tax increases, the departure of foreign investors and massive business bankruptcies”.
16:32 – The RN condemned
The Court of Cassation rejected this Wednesday the RN’s appeals in the case of campaign kits during the 2012 legislative elections. Judged on appeal for concealment of corporate assets, the RN was sentenced to a fine of 250,000 euros, this conviction is now definitive. These kits were sold for €16,650 to FN candidates by the Jeanne association, a micro-party of Marine Le Pen. This system actually hid overvalued benefits to deceive the State, which reimburses candidates’ expenses which exceed 5%.
3:30 p.m. – Twins candidates for legislative elections but not under the same banner
Alain Hunault, mayor of Châteaubriant, will be a candidate under the “diverse right” label in the 6th constituency of Loire-Atlantique. He wanted to distance himself from LR following Eric Ciotti’s alliance. Conversely, his twin, Michel, is running in the 7th constituency by being in favor of the union of the rights.
2:30 p.m. – Eric Ciotti threatened with death
The president of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, revealed a threatening letter received this Wednesday, June 19. She points directly to her alliance with the RN: “No RN, you understand correctly”. The letter bears a drawing with a target in the name of Ciotti and a pistol. President LR shared the letter on X, affirming that “nothing will make him back down, neither hatred, nor threats, nor violence”.
2:15 p.m. – Eric Ciotti confronts anti-Semitism
An RN candidate dropped after an anti-Semitic tweet, an anti-Semitic rape of a teenager, Eric Ciotti decided to react by re-sharing a testimony that he considers “revealing the rise of anti-Semitism” in the country. He believes that this is “fueled by the alliance of the far left”.
1:45 p.m. – Jordan Bardella once again welcomes “historic agreement”
Jordan Bardella once again welcomed the agreement reached with Eric Ciotti. “I wanted to reach out to other political groups and I welcome the historic agreement reached with the Right-wing Republicans and with President Ciotti which allows 62 constituencies to see LR candidates being supported in the same spirit, in the same dynamic because to win I need to build the largest possible majority. My wish is to build a government of national unity in the service of the country’s recovery,” declared Jordan Bardella during his speech. trip to Villepinte at the Eurosatory Exhibition.
1:24 p.m. – The RN dissociates itself from one of its candidates
The RN indicated this Wednesday that it no longer supported one of its candidates for the legislative elections in Morbihan. Joseph Martin posted an anti-Semitic message on social media in 2018 and never deleted it. ‘He no longer has the support of the National Rally, he is suspended and will be summoned with a view to his exclusion,’ the RN told AFP, while recalling that it was impossible to withdraw his candidacy.
11:55 – An inevitable LR heartbreak?
Henri Guaino, former LR deputy, deplored Eric Ciotti’s alliance with the RN on BFMTV. Nevertheless, according to him, “it was inevitable, unavoidable, that one day or another LR would find itself torn in this way”. “Political families have disappeared from the French political scene,” he said. For him, today, they are more “one-person companies”, gathered around a leader. The LR party does not, according to him, have such a figure around which to rally: “LR no longer has Jacques Chirac or Sarkozy”.
11:40 – A candidate from the RN-LR alliance defends common points
Marie-Hélène Quatreboeufs, candidate in the 6th constituency of the North, support of the alliance with the RN, believes that “the RN is no longer the extreme right at all”. “And if I want to explain my journey, it’s that the RPR, 30 years ago, is the RN today. And it’s true that we have a lot in common, it must be said, between what Bardella offers, and what was proposed by the LR,” she added. She ensures that she is responding to voters’ demands.
10:48 – Éric Ciotti assumes his proposed alliance with the RN in a video
In a video published on He felt that his decision was “rapid, but thoughtful”, but that it could have offended LR supporters. “I accept this choice which is necessary for our political family, essential for our ideas,” he argued, saying he wanted to oppose the far left. “The Republicans will remain a large, independent right-wing party,” he assures.
10:03 – “A crime against honor” for Darmanin
On BFMTV, the Minister of the Interior considered that Eric Ciotti had committed “a crime against honor” by allying himself with the RN. He assures that the RN “sorts the French according to their origins”. Gérald Daramnin also announced that he was going to propose to Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the GUD, Defense Union Group; an “ultra-right group very friendly with many people from the National Rally”.
09:17 – Eric Ciotti excluded from LR before June 30?
First vice-president of the LR group in the National Assembly, Michèle Tabarot, wants Eric Ciotti to leave LR. She assured Nice-Matin that this scenario could soon come to fruition. “We gathered in one day the signatures of more than 700 members of the national council of LR who ask Éric Ciotti, under article 24.3 of our statutes, to convene a political bureau with his ouster from the presidency at the agenda,” she said. A bureau which should be assembled within eight days and which according to the outgoing MP for Alpes-Maritimes, “will make its decision before the first round of the legislative elections. On June 30, Ciotti will no longer be at the head of our party”.
Eric Ciotti caused an earthquake in his party by calling for an alliance with the National Rally for the legislative elections, the first round of which will take place on June 30. “All outgoing Republican deputies who wish not to have an opponent from the RN may not have a competitor,” he declared. He thus hopes to guarantee his political family “to have the same number of seats” in the National Assembly. It had 61 before the dissolution. “We need an alliance, while remaining ourselves (…) with the National Rally and with its candidates,” assured the man who had nevertheless declared in the past that he would never associate with Marine Le Pen.
Jordan Bardella, for his part, announced that there would be an agreement with “several dozen” LR deputies who will be “invested” or “supported” by his party. He also argued with Marine Le Pen that RN candidates might not be presented against outgoing LR deputies.
On the Republican side, Eric Ciotti is being rejected from all sides, with some going so far as to ask for his resignation from the party. A real split could be created among the Republicans, torn between the macronie, the RN and their desire for independence.
If the possible RN-LR alliance is at the center of concerns, the Maréchal-Bardella-Le Pen meeting on Monday shows that part of the Zemmour clan is also ready to discuss an agreement. People close to Marion Maréchal stressed the importance of setting up a “coalition of the rights”, considered essential to succeed in installing a majority in the Assembly on July 7. According to Jordan Bardella, however, nothing has been decided at the moment.
In the middle of the campaign, Eric Ciotti is the target of an investigation for “embezzlement of public funds” during the 2022 legislative campaign.
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