Eric Ciotti well ahead with 41% of the votes in his stronghold in Nice

The outgoing deputy LR made the contested choice of an alliance with the RN. The Republican leaders, however, were unable to legally remove the party presidency from him.

A winning strategy in its stronghold. The president of the Republicans Eric Ciotti, who entered into an alliance with the National Rally, came well ahead in the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, with 41% of the votes, during the first round of the legislative elections, Sunday June 30.

The outgoing deputy, elected since 2007, is clearly ahead of his opponents: the candidate of the New Popular Front, Olivier Salerno (26.62%) and the representative of the presidential camp, Graig Monetti (22.79%), who are also qualified for the second round. The candidate presented by the LR opposed to the alliance with the RN, Virgile Vanier-Guérin, obtained 5.78% of the votes.

In the European elections of June 9, the National Rally made a strong breakthrough in this constituency, with 29.9% for Jordan Bardella, against 9.7% for François-Xavier Bellamy, the LR candidate. A score that is undoubtedly not unrelated to Eric Ciotti’s decision to conclude an electoral agreement with the far-right party.

Three days after Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution, Christian Estrosi’s former deputy at the Nice town hall took his political family by surprise by announcing this alliance with the camp of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. No LR bigwig ultimately followed him and the outgoing deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes presented only 62 candidates, supported by the RN, via his party “Les Républicains à droite”.

A legal battle also pitted him against LR officials who sought, throughout this campaign, to oust him from the presidency of the Republicans. Eric Ciotti finally managed, on June 27, to keep his title before the Paris judicial court which declared inadmissible in summary proceedings the third attempt by LR to exclude him.

What will be the place of the former quaestor of the National Assembly in the event of an absolute majority of the RN at the Palais-Bourbon?Obviously Eric Ciotti, who is the president of the Republicans, will be called upon to take on important responsibilities in this government.”said Jordan Bardella on Thursday during the debate on France 2 with Olivier Faure and Gabriel Attal. In the 2022 legislative elections, Eric Ciotti won nearly 32% of the vote in the first round against 26% for Craig Monetti, and won with 56% of the vote in the second round.