LR Presidency: Retailleau-Wauquiez duel triples the number of members

The Republican presidential race between Bruno Retailleau and Laurent Wauquiez has nearly tripled in membership, the right-wing party announced on Wednesday, April 30. A total of 121,617 will be able to decide between the two candidates at a congress on May 17 and 18.

"The High Authority has finalized the electoral list, which includes 121,617 people," the party said almost two weeks after the April 17 deadline for joining and thus being able to vote on May 17 and 18.

This body, which is responsible for organizing the vote, assured that it had carried out verifications of these memberships "in consultation" with the teams of the two candidates.

After having narrowly avoided extinction a year ago following the alliance between its former president Éric Ciotti and the RN , the Les Républicains party had only 43,859 members with up-to-date subscriptions at the start of the campaign in mid-February.

This proliferation of activists, which makes the vote uncertain, is a classic on the right, where internal elections often lend themselves to controversy, from the contested result of the 2012 leadership war between François Fillon and Jean-François Copé to the appearance of a fictional dog – Douglas – registered in the 2021 primary.

The hunt for new members was a priority in each camp: Laurent Wauquiez undertook a tour of France to meet them.

Bruno Retailleau, busy with his duties as minister, which left him less time to campaign, took advantage of the visibility he enjoys in Beauvau to try to convince LR voters who had gone towards Macronism or the far right to return to the fold.