French Conservatives Pick Ciotti to Lead Bid to Revive Fortunes

(Bloomberg) -- France’s conservative Republicans picked Eric Ciotti as their new leader in a bid to revive the moribund party that was trounced in the last presidential election and is struggling to remain relevant.

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Ciotti, a lawmaker from the southeastern region of Alpes-Maritimes, was named to the helm on Sunday after a nearly five-month campaign. He’s on the right wing of the party, which has been squeezed by President Emmanuel Macron’s dominance of the political center and Marine Le Pen on the far right.

Ciotti, 57, has called for a crackdown on immigration and criticized so-called woke and Islamist ideologies, putting his political platform closer to Le Pen’s. He won 53.7% of members’ votes.

The leadership race within the party of past presidents Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy followed a dismal showing by its candidate Valerie Pecresse in this year’s election.

The outcome of the Les Republicains vote is important for Macron because his government lacks an absolute majority in the National Assembly, making it dependent on opposition support.

While Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has mostly resorted to pushing through legislation by decree, reaching compromises with the Republicans is seen as more plausible than with the far-right National Rally party and left-wing Nupes alliance. Franck Louvrier, a prominent Republicains member, called this month for a contract with the government to encourage reforms and warned against cozying up to the far-right.

The candidates for the Republican leadership vowed to recharge the party to field a winning candidate in the next presidential election.

Ciotti ran against Bruno Retailleau, 62, a senator from western France who appealed to traditional conservative economic values including fiscal responsibility. A third candidate, legislator Aurelien Pradie, 36, was eliminated in the first round last week.

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