It seemed to be eating away at him for some time. David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, left The Republicans with a bang on Wednesday. Last night, with 94 out of 100 votes, the party’s political bureau approved the three options that the party will present to its members to designate the LR presidential candidate. Closed primary? Open? Or direct appointment of their president, Bruno Retailleau? These are the three choices selected by the working group led by Senate President Gérard Larcher, which members will have to decide on.
Declared candidate for the presidency, the president of the Association of Mayors of France did not wait for the end of the meeting to physically leave the party’s Paris headquarters. This morning on BFMTV, he expressed his true thoughts. “They proposed a biased vote […] a rigged vote,” he said. “There are two methodological questions, and a personal question,” he pointed out, calling “absolute nonsense” the strategy decided on for the presidential election yesterday. Above all, he believes it would de facto confirm Bruno Retailleau’s candidacy. Consequently, the head of the micro-party Nouvelle Energie indicated that he “has nothing more to do at LR.”
Not enough to shock the members of the leadership team. “It was expected. He’s been in a personal logic for years,” calmly commented Bruno Retailleau’s entourage.
“He is simply aware that he is extremely in the minority within LR”
Roger Karoutchi, senator and national president of the investment commission, recalls that the choice left to members on the designation mode of the presidential candidate is nothing more than the application of LR’s new statutes. “David Lisnard had accepted them, by the way. He could have expressed his disagreement yesterday. But to say that the political bureau is nonsense and talk about a rigged vote because the strategy does not correspond to what he wants, is unacceptable. He is simply aware that he is extremely in the minority within LR. He has been threatening to leave the party for a long time, he had already done so during the 2024 legislative elections to have New Energy endorsed candidates,” recalls the senator from Hauts-de-Seine.
“I’ve seen them leave and come back”
In October 2023, after the senatorial elections, the micro-party, which opened its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, had 9 “New Energy” elected officials in the upper house. Among them, the senator from Rhône, Etienne Blanc, one of the spokespersons, defends David Lisnard’s position. “It’s simple, a commitment was made at the time of Bruno Retailleau’s election to have an expanded primary to avoid multiple candidacies. The open primary proposed to members is not fully open as it will be necessary to sign a regulation to know who can participate (a charter of values). Everyone who identifies as right-wing should be able to participate. We need an open primary with a maximum of candidates. With the decision of the bureau, we can be sure that the militants will choose their president. It’s obvious.”
This position is also shared by the leader of the right-wing deputies, Laurent Wauquiez, who described the options presented to LR members as “boutique-like” choices and called for a primary between Gérald Darmanin and Sarah Knafo. A turnaround from his stance last year during the campaign for the party’s presidency against Bruno Retailleau. At that time, the deputy, who projected himself as the party leader and natural candidate of his political family, called the primary “poison and a division machine.”
Last November, at the beginning of the reflection process on the candidate designation mode, Bruno Retailleau’s entourage admitted the difficulty of avoiding “an LR primary.” The option seemed out of favor when Bruno Retailleau officially declared his candidacy three months later.
The senator, Frédérique Puissat, a member of LR’s board, “regrets” David Lisnard’s decision. “He is someone I appreciate. But it’s not a big blow for us, it’s an individual step on his part. But I’ve seen them leave and come back. But that doesn’t prevent him from respecting the party’s choice.”
Will David Lisnard go all the way?
“An election campaign should last at least a year. I know of no other procedure than primaries to designate a candidate in our camp. I think David Lisnard will continue to demand this open primary,” hints Etienne Blanc.
“He wanted to make a statement. He wants his liberal line to be embodied in the presidential project. On the issue of regalian power, in general, we are quite close to the RN. The distinction is made on the economy, so we have to go all out. David Lisnard had to break free from LR if he wants to count tomorrow and make a ticket with Bruno Retailleau. He also had to step out to come back as a candidate of New Energy if an open primary emerges this fall,” analyzes an elected official close to the mayor of Cannes.
At the head of the AMF, David Lisnard seems to be able to obtain the necessary 500 sponsorships. “President of the AMF, he is also thanks to the weight of LR. It’s not by divine right,” recalls Roger Karoutchi. “But he didn’t want to be the one who would siphon off part of the right-wing electorate,” notes the mentioned elected official earlier.
“You can’t be both president of the AMF and a candidate for the Elysée. Representing 36,000 communes is a full-time job. If David Lisnard wants to do politics, I urge him to leave the presidency of the AMF. He should not repeat a François Baroin, who we thought for two presidential elections was going to be a candidate,” notes Jean-Paul Lecoq, LR mayor of the VI arrondissement of Paris.
If Bruno Retailleau’s designation by members for the supreme candidacy is confirmed, it will not eliminate the question of rallying the center and the Republican right behind a single candidate. A condition that seems indispensable today to get through the first round.
“Let’s say that the conditions are not met today since Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal have said they do not want it,” observes Roger Karoutchi, who refers the issue to the fall. “Either the LR candidate is in a position to present himself and we continue. Or all the contenders from the right and the center accept a system of sharing, which could be a primary, and at that moment, it will be a second stage.”
