Bruno Retailleau said on Tuesday, November 3, that a primary would likely be necessary early next year to choose a candidate from the right and centre for France’s 2027 presidential election. Speaking on BFM-TV, the Les Républicains candidate said Édouard Philippe would be “forced, at one point or another, to accept” the process.
Retailleau had previously said he was not opposed to a primary, but argued it could not go ahead because Philippe, who is ahead of the other candidates in the polls, had rejected the idea. Philippe reiterated his opposition on Sunday. Retailleau’s support brings him behind a call first made by David Lisnard in the spring and renewed by Gabriel Attal the previous week.
Retailleau said he had hoped polls might distinguish between the candidates, but added that this did not appear likely. He cited an IFOP poll for LCI published Tuesday, in which all four candidates were below 10%. He warned that, without a way to choose a candidate, none of them would avoid a second round between Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “Either we are decided by a democratic vote, or I will go all the way,” he said.
Retailleau proposed a primary involving the declared candidates Philippe of Horizons, Attal of Renaissance and Lisnard of Nouvelle Énergie. He said substantive debates would be difficult with more than four participants and ruled out Raphaël Glucksmann, who won the left-wing primary, saying the process should not attempt to combine incompatible positions.
While awaiting Philippe’s decision, Retailleau proposed holding three debates before the end of the year on different television channels. The topics would be purchasing power, law and order, and ecology. He said the debates would give voters a chance to understand the candidates’ differences, even if Philippe continued to oppose a primary.
Sources: Le Monde Politique.