Presidential 2027: Laurent Wauquiez calls for a “single candidate” from the right “before Christmas”

The head of LR deputies, Laurent Wauquiez, solemnly demanded Sunday on France Inter and France 2 that the “declared right-wing candidates” agree to bring out a “single candidate” in the presidential election “before Christmas”. We need “firstly, a single candidate, a single program, a break with Macronism. Second, a calendar. This calendar is a unique candidate before Christmas,” said the former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, guest of the “Franc-jeu” show.

“Now what method? Well what I am asking is from the declared right-wing candidates (...) that they meet within two weeks to finally establish a method of arbitration between them,” he continued, targeting Édouard Philippe (Horizons), Bruno Retailleau (LR) and David Lisnard (Nouvelle Énergie). Wauquiez favors a primary as a tie-breaking method, but, he judges, it would also be possible to have “a succession of five debates, and at the end we do a poll”, or even to organize a “conclave”.

“Any other timetable is madness for me, it must happen before Christmas (...) It has lasted too long and it must stop,” dramatized the deputy for Haute-Loire, speaking out for right-wing French people who are, according to him, “increasingly angry”.

Asked about the scope of the primary, Laurent Wauquiez said he was “obligated to take note” that everyone did not want Sarah Knafo (Reconquête!) to participate in the process. As for Gabriel Attal (Renaissance), it is to him that the question is asked, estimated Laurent Wauquiez. “Does Gabriel Attal, as he has expressed so far, want a program that goes from Raphaël Glucksmann to Bruno Retailleau? For me, it's no. Or is Gabriel Attal making the clear choice of a program which is a right and center-right program, and in which case there is no problem?” he asked.

He himself indicated that he would not add “one more candidacy” if such a primary took place, putting his “political commitment on bringing people together”. The idea of ​​organizing a primary to decide between candidates from the right and the center has regained strength in recent weeks, supported among the candidates by David Lisnard and Gabriel Attal, but also now by Bruno Retailleau. Favorite of this political space, Édouard Philippe continued on Saturday to firmly reject the principle.