France's right-wing Republicans party (LR) has voted to remove leader Eric Ciotti after he promised an electoral alliance with the far-right National Rally (RN) ahead of snap parliamentary elections at the end of June. With RN posting historically strong results in last week's EU polls, the traditional right has seen its voter base decimated.
Political parties in France are jostling for position after President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
Ciotti created a rift in the LR after calling for an electoral alliance with RN, in which he said the parties would back each others’ candidates.
The LR's political committee voted unanimously Wednesday to remove Ciotti as president, saying the party would present independent candidates in the 30 June and 7 July legislative elections.
But Ciotti insists he is still in charge, writing on X that the committee’s decision was "a flagrant violation of our statutes" and was illegal and void.
Widespread divisions
The Republicans party – which can trace its lineage back to Charles De Gaulle, and which has brought presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy to power – has struggled since 2017, when Macron was elected and drew defectors to his centrist alliance.
The rise of RN has continued to push the party to the right.
LR has struggled to remain independent. At times it's allied itself with Macron’s government, which since 2022 has lacked a parliamentary majority, and at other times it has threatened to censure motions.
The snap elections and the success of RN have also created divisions on the far right.
Eric Zemmour, leader of the smaller, extreme far-right Reconquest party, which won nearly 5.5 percent of the vote in the EU polls, expelled Marion Maréchal, the neice of key RN figure Marine Le Pen.
Maréchal had earlier called on her supporters to back candidates in the alliance proposed by Ciotti and the RN.
Maréchal rejected what she called "the principle of divisive candidacies", and urged the right to "not miss out on this unprecedented, historic opportunity" to put the far right in power in France.
Her words were welcomed by RN leader Jordan Bardella.
(with newswires)
