After the announcement of the results of the first round of the 2022 presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy’s position caused a stir. In a tense political context with the collapse of the Republican party led by Valérie Pécresse in the elections (4.79%), the former President of the Republic came out of his reserve to formalize his support for outgoing President Emmanuel Macron. In its edition of April 13, 2022, Paris Match goes behind the scenes of this political rapprochement, what it has as a consequence for the LR movement and on the intentions of the former head of state, from whom the magazine has obtained exclusive confidences.
On April 12, 2022, Nicolas Sarkozy had lunch with the departmental councilors of Hauts-de-Seine, this community which he led for a long time. He wants to get involved in the construction of the future presidential majority “in which the right must take its place without necessarily, he says, participating in the government“, writing Paris Match. A will that is not driven by other ambitions, assures the one who was elected President of the Republic in 2007: “Me, I’m not looking for anything. I am retired from political life. Who could imagine that I am looking for any job? I am happy in my life. I just want the best for France.“And to save his political family at all costs, a few weeks before the legislative elections.
The husband of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, close to Brigitte Macron, is considered the fourth favorite political personality of the French according to the barometer produced by Paris Match. For him, no “ni-ni”, this alliance has a primary goal: “Prevent the disappearance of the government right” With 27.84% of votes in the first round of the presidential elections for Emmanuel Macron and LREM, the Republican Nicolas Sarkozy could not ignore, even if it meant causing tension within the party. Faced with disagreements, as with Eric Ciotti, closer to a Zemmour than a Macron, Nicolas Sarkozy is categorical: “I recall that, in the charter of values of the party that I created, it is written that we undertake to fight in an absolute way the far right.“
For the former President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron has evolved “to the center right“: “Who can complain? Not me. From the moment when a large part of his ideas are now the same as ours, we have to support him. His good score in the first round… Isn’t that the translation that some of the right-wing voters joined him? As for Valérie Pécresse, whom he never officially supported for the first round, he accuses her of having been contradictory: she was very critical of Emmanuel Macron, while accusing him of stealing LR ideas according to him.
An article to be found in its entirety in the April 13, 2022 edition of Paris Match