The former head of state wishes success for the outgoing president against his former minister Thierry Mariani, who defected from the right to join the National Rally (RN), and whom he accuses of “betrayal”.
By calling for a “surge in participation”, he warns voters: in his eyes, the RN candidate is “the symbol of a form of sectarianism that will significantly harm the attractiveness of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region worldwide” if he is elected.
Amid the tensions within his political family, divided on the strategy to adopt concerning LREM, the former head of the Republicans (LR) calls for unity: “Stop the divisions! If Renaud Muselier loses, you all lose”, he adds. The former head of state prefers to blame Thierry Mariani’s alliance with the RN in 2018: “the betrayal of commitments, it’s him”.
Like his predecessor Christian Estrosi in 2015, Renaud Muselier saw a “republican front” re-form in his favor for the second round. Already aided by the withdrawal of the leftist candidate Jean-Laurent Félizia (EELV-PS-PCF, 16.9% in the first round), and the ecologist Jean-Marc Governatori (5.3%).
