France’s conservative Les Républicains party has selected as its new leader Eric Ciotti, a lawmaker known for taking a hard line on immigration and crime, as it seeks to reverse a decade of bruising election losses that have left it a much diminished political force.
The choice of the 57-year-old veteran MP, who represents the Alpes-Maritimes region that includes Nice, is a sign of the rightward tilt of the party as it fights for its survival squeezed between Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance and Marine Le Pen’s ascendant far-right Rassemblement National.
Some 62,000 members of Les Républicains (LR) took part in the two-round online vote that ended on Sunday after a six-week campaign. Ciotti saw off challenges from senator Bruno Retailleau, a cultural conservative from Vendée who was seen as a less divisive figure internally, and Aurélien Pradié, a charismatic 36-year old MP from the south-west.