“Since 2007 and the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy, we have lost 80% of our voters. To bring them back home, we must no longer apologize for being on the right”. This is what Eric Ciotti confided in early November to our colleagues from franceinfo. This sentence sums up quite well the political line of the 57-year-old man who is on a harder right than that represented by the party’s candidate in the presidential election, Valérie Pécresse.
On this weekend of December 4, he opposed Bruno Retailleau and Aurélien Pradié in the context of the election of the new president of the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR). If his supporters hoped to see him win the ballot in the first round, Eric Ciotti still came out on top with 42.73% of the vote. Next week, in the second round, he will oppose Bruno Retailleau who obtained 34.45% of the votes, leaving last place to the young Aurélien Pradié (22.29%).
Born in Nice in 1965, Eric Ciotti began his political career when he was still a young man. Indeed, a graduate of Sciences Po Paris in 1988, he quickly joined forces with Christian Estrosi (RPR) as a parliamentary collaborator. As can be seen from this photograph dating from 1991 where the two men stand.
Today, he could well become the next president of the Republicans if his lead is confirmed in the upcoming election. To find out, you will have to wait until Sunday, December 11, 2022, when the result should be known.
