2021 The Republicans congress
The 2021 The Republicans congress, also known as the Congress for France, was an organised internal primary held from 1 to 4 December. It was organised by the party in order to nominate the candidate that would represent it in the 2022 presidential election. Valérie Pécresse was chosen as the party's presidential nominee in a two-round voting process.
Context
After François Fillon failed to reach the second round in the 2017 presidential election, Les Republicains were in opposition to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who recruited several LR figures and adopted similar policies in some regards, especially around social policy. After a major failure in the 2019 European elections, Les Républicains did well in the 2020 municipal elections as well as in the 2021 regional and departmental elections.The party was divided on the method of selecting its candidate for the 2022 presidential election. In 2016, the party had used an open primary, which brought a record 4.4 million voters in, but the surprise winner François Fillon did not manage to qualify for the run-off, and left the party weakened between Macron-compatible and right-wing factions. The polls for the 2022 election did not indicate that any candidate was emerging as a natural favorite, and the party may lose some votes on the right flank of the party to independent candidate Éric Zemmour.
On September 25, 2021, a consultation reserved for 79,000 LR members decided on the candidate selection process. 58% of voters choose a “closed” primary against 40.4% for an “open” primary and 1.6% of voters were blank. The statutes were amended accordingly, establishing a commission to filter the candidacies as well. There was also a possibility of revoking the support for the nominated candidate in order not to repeat the fiasco caused by the Fillon affair.
Voting method
Dates and voters
The first round took place online from 8am on 1 December to 2pm on 2 December 2021. A second round was scheduled for 3 and 4 December 2021; if no candidate obtained more than 50% of the votes cast, then the second round would be a run-off between the two candidates with the most votes.Only members of Les Republicains could vote. At the deadline for signing up, the party had around 150,000 members, of whom 139,918 registered to vote.
Applications
Each candidate must be sponsored by at least 250 LR elected representatives, spread over at least 30 departments.Organisation and control
The organising committee of the primary was responsible for defining the practical details of the process and ensuring that it ran smoothly. It was composed of:- Christian Jacob, president of LR and the president of the organising committee
- Annie Genevard, deputy vice-president of LR
- Aurélien Pradié, Secretary General of LR
- Daniel Fasquelle, national treasurer of LR
- Damien Abad, president of the LR group at the National Assembly
- Bruno Retailleau, president of the LR group in the Senate
- Bernard Deflesselles, representative of Xavier Bertrand
- , representative of Valérie Pécresse
- Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, representative of Michel Barnier
- François Varlet, representative of Philippe Juvin
- Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp, representative of Éric Ciotti
- Philippe Bas, senator
- Olivier Dutheillet de Lamothe, Honorary State Councillor
- Rémi-Pierre Drai, lawyer