Republicans Elect a New President and Hope to Turn the Page on Defeat

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A New president for the Republicans hoping to turn the page on defeats

To elect a new president and turn the page on 2017 losses: Les Republicans activists return to the polls to decide Laurent Wauquiez, Florence Portelli and Mael Calan.

To elect a new president and turn the page of electoral defeats of 2017: LR activists are called to the polls Sunday to decide Laurent Wauquiez , major favorite, Florence Portelli and Mael Calan in a first-round ballot which may slightly raise.

Open Saturday at 8pm, the voting continues until Sunday 8pm. The results could be announced “before 9pm,” according to Anne Levade, President of the High Authority, the independent body responsible for the organization of operations.

Voting is open to ”  234,556 members to date of contribution,” said the lawyer. It will be only electronically on computer, tablet or smartphone. Members who wish can go to vote in one of the “251 places” available to them.

The implementation of these places, mainly in France, some overseas, was communicated to the Ministry of Interior “for reasons of security.”

Wauquiez, 42, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, will vote in his stronghold of Puy-en-Velay 10:30.

On Sunday night, he meets his friends in Paris, in a room of the fifteenth arrondissement, the gambling den Regnier. In the absence of heavyweights of the party in front of him, he hopes to be elected in the first round. His entourage expects about 50,000 voters.

Ms Portelli, 39, mayor of Taverny (Val-d’Oise), will vote at 11 am in the polling station located in the town of Andilly (Val-d’Oise). Former filloniste estimated below the 100,000 voters, the poll would be “a failure.”

“There would inevitably lessons to be learned,” says this young woman known for his outspokenness. Among his proposals to “modernize the functioning” of the party, include the snap of the Presidency of RS midterm and the obligation to consult the militants for nominations.

“Message of clarity” to Macron

As for Mr Calan, Finistere elected, he will vote in the seat of RS, in the late morning. The youngest candidate, 36, received the support of Alain Juppe.

He warned that in case of failure for president of RS, it would be close to tenors like Gerard Larcher, Valérie Pécresse and Xavier Bertrand to “influence the policy line” of the party.

“If tomorrow the Republicans became a eurosceptic party, anti-liberal and identity” recurring accusations against Mr Wauquiez, “Of course, it would not be our party,” he says.

Except big surprise, Wauquiez is preparing to become the successor of Nicolas Sarkozy, the last president dated LR.

Mr Sarkozy had left the head of the party after his nomination to the primary right for president. Winner of this primary, Francois Fillon had entrusted the keys of the house to Bernard Accoyer, appointed secretary general, which could offer his resignation to the new boss of the party on Monday, according to sources LR.

The victory in the first round is “the objective assumed” Mr Wauquiez, according to his campaign manager, Geoffroy Didier.

“A clear victory on December 10 will be a way to show that right-wing extremism or left embodied by Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon has the monopoly of the opposition, and there is a possible alternative which will in the coming months and perhaps years to take shape”

He said it would also be “a message of clarity” in Emmanuel Macron, which thus end up “under review.”



Wauquiez should surround himself with a new team, which will be focussing on youth. With the repeated desire to “collect” the right, he offered the presidency of the National Council, the “parliament” of the party, Ms Pécresse.

The date of the National Council to validate his appointment is already fixed on 27 January in Paris.

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