The “right-wing parties,” considering the reality, should be counted as at least two (while waiting for Thierry Mariani to assert the name of his micro-party, National Right, in place of the better-known National Rally), are far from reconciling.
The lists led by Renaud Muselier therefore welcome neither ministers nor parliamentarians, regardless of their political label. As a result, the resentment of certain representatives has focused on the absence of LR (Les Républicains) parliamentarians.
The solution found by the Les Républicains strategic committee to maintain support for Renaud Muselier is just a band-aid that fails to heal the wound, as it is too deep.
Though Renaud Muselier insists that he remains loyal to his party and will not refrain from criticizing the government’s policy in the future, the message does not seem to be getting through in the Alpes-Maritimes.
The Alpes-Maritimes deputy, Eric Ciotti, has already announced and repeated that he will not vote for Renaud Muselier in the first round, and his supporters have received the message loud and clear. As for the second round… we’ll see! As far as party discipline is concerned, better has been seen.
Among the local barons of the republican right, the battle for power is in full swing. It is ennobled by grand statements and fine words: our values, our principles, etc. In fact, it is simply a matter of securing “minor local and regional posts today and positioning for national ones tomorrow.
“Let them stay at home! Parliamentarians only think about their local base to play national politics,” retorts Renaud Muselier.
Some, feeling scorned, want to make him pay for the affront and are now hesitant to discreetly support the list led by Thierry Mariani. Deep down, it’s an old colleague of our party—they say—we can always find adjustments with him just as much as with Renaud Muselier who is playing solo.”
“I remain focused on my territory,” Renaud Muselier dismisses. “One can also respect my strategy. I just want to stay in a regional election and defeat the RN list. Because unlike Eric Ciotti, we do have things to say about our differences with the RN, and it’s not just a matter of governance.”
The psychodrama of the right-wing parties continues and will affect its players throughout the electoral campaign.
In the end, like in 2015 for Christian Estrosi, the victory of the republican right may require obliterating the left? It’s not certain that this time such a call, if there is one, will find attentive and especially “generous” ears.
Last time, the order came from Paris, motivated by reasons of general politics, and was carried out without a hitch, and the left disappeared from the chamber for over five years.
This time, there is a new generation of candidates, motivated, pretentious, who want to taste power. It is practically impossible for any potential agreement to come without recompense. The expression “Gratis et amori dei” is not in the vocabulary of the social and ecological left!
