The competition between Eric Ciotti and Christian Estrosi (if it takes place because the mayor of Nice has not yet taken a stance) for the departmental presidency of Les Républicains certainly won’t have the fair play that Baron de Coubertin demanded to preserve the spirit of the Olympic Games.
It will be rather fierce and not necessarily fair. In any case, the announcements are heading in this direction, judging by the comments of the Azurian deputy during his first meeting of this mini-electoral campaign, in the presence of all his affiliates who publicly expressed their support for him, starting with the pasionaria Christelle D’Intorni (someone could tell her: keep calm and carry on?), and then Lionnel Luca, Henri Leroy, Jean-Claude Guibal, Eric Pauget, David Lisnard, Charles-Ange Ginésy, with the only absentee (but he had already declared himself) being the mayor of Grasse Jérôme Viaud*.
In short, in terms of baronies (“cuius regio, eius religio” may be a good indicator as a kind of poll) and given the presences and absences, one can consider that, with a few exceptions and clearing out those playing both sides, it will go towards a match between the rest of the department vs. the Metropolis.
However, making predictions is difficult, as we do not know the number of party members and their locations (the possibility is open until September 12th, and we can easily imagine that “vocations” have been numerous lately).
What we can be sure of is that ballot-stuffing will not be lacking, a fine exercise of democracy, isn’t it?
Focused on his goals – which are to take control of the local party, put Christian Estrosi in a difficult position, and play the legitimate candidacy card for the mayoralty of Nice – Eric Ciotti keeps demanding a clarification of Christian Estrosi’s position and uses it as his propaganda tool: “one cannot be the official president of Les Républicains and the unofficial leader of En Marche.”
The slogan is appealing but misleading: if that were the case, why does the party not exclude him? And along with him, all the mayors and elected officials who have given life to the France Audacieuse movement?
For him, “the right must be the right,” staying true to the values it expresses. But is there a Tablet of Law that gives a theological value to a political line, or can each person have freedom of thought, judgment, and behavior?
If we stick to his statements, his political line seems limited to blaming Emmanuel Macron for all the world’s ills. Obsession or posture?
In any case, opposition is not an expression of values, and a political line must represent an alternative, which is currently not the case.
Unless the final declaration of his speech, “Macron means having 2 million more foreigners by 2022”, is a sign of joining the Visegrad club, that of sovereigntist national-populism inspired by the model of Putin’s and Erdogan’s democratures.
If that’s the case, some explanations about right-wing values would be useful to better understand the stakes. Because one can legitimately aim – for the departmental presidency of Les Républicains and then, on the momentum, end up going much further…
