A far-right French congressman who wanted to hold a referendum to “stop mass immigration” and establish a “Guantanamo Bay in France” to deal with terrorism took the lead in the first round of voting and elected the presidential candidate for the right-wing Republican Party, in a shocking result.
Éric Ciotti, a 56-year-old politician from Nice, is known for his hardline views on Islam and immigration. In the first round of voting on Thursday, he turned from an outsider to a surprise The highest position. Nicolas SarkozyParty. He is now facing the second round of the run-off against the former Sarkozy minister Valérie Pécresse who hopes to become the first female president of France.
During the primary election, Jyoti dominated the television debate by agreeing with many ideas of the French far-right and vowing to fight the “taboo of political correctness.”
He said his success was attributed to his outspoken attitude and “France maintains the popularity of the French”-this is a response to the anti-immigration rhetoric of the far-right leader Marina Le Pen And the far-right TV expert Eric Zemo He launched his own outsider campaign for president.
The 54-year-old head of the Paris region, Pecres, defines herself as “two-thirds of Angela Merkel and one-third of Margaret Thatcher”, which she said means that While building consensus, be tough and economically focused. Pécresse is known for promoting Sarkozy’s higher education reform in the face of prolonged street protests and university roadblocks. She believes that she is the only person with the qualifications and experience to defeat the centrist Emmanuel Macron.
As a former budget minister, Pécresse has traditionally been regarded as moderate and pro-European, although she took a hard line on immigration and security issues like all other candidates during the primary election. She has said that her first measure as president is to raise wages and end the 35-hour work week.
Pecres said on Thursday that she has the support of the French people who want “respect, truth and action.” She stated that she will “completely break” with Macron’s presidency because the latter “destroyed and divided France.”
The vote disappointed the former EU Brexit negotiator, Michel BarnierAfter commentators criticized his lacklustre performance in television debates, he was eliminated. Xavier Bertrand, the former Minister of Health and head of Northwest France, was also removed. Both said that they would support Pécresse now, and his team believed she had a great chance of winning.
The results of the first round are very close. Ciotti and Pécresse both received slightly more than 28,000 votes, of which Ciotti and Pécresse received 25.59% and 25% of the party members’ votes, respectively.
Approximately 140,000 members of the Republican Party were required to vote electronically. The roots of the party can be traced back to the French war hero De Gaulle. The final round of voting will begin on Friday morning and the results will be announced on Saturday afternoon.
After the results were announced, Jyoti argued that he was the only one who could unite the right and retake voters from the extreme right. He distinguishes himself from the center-right wing of the party, which has seen key figures hop to the Macron government.
Jyoti has said that he will never ally with Macron or vote for Macron, or even stop the far right.He is keen not to alienate Zemmour’s supporters, who believe that France is being destroyed by immigrants, and Convicted of inciting racial hatred And he was attacked by historians for claiming that the Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain saved the French Jews instead of helping them be deported to death camps.
Jyoti has said that if he chooses between Macron or Zemur, he will vote for Zemur. He said on Thursday that Zemur had conducted a “clear analysis” of the epidemic situation. FranceBut Jyoti added that he himself will bring more “hope for revival” to France. He said his model was Sarkozy’s successful election campaign in 2007, when many voters abandoned the far right that supported Sarkozy.
Zemmour tweeted: “I’m very happy, dear Éric, to see our ideas shared so widely by members of the Republican Party.”
