(Bloomberg) — Eric Ciotti, the head of France’s conservative Republicans, called on his party to join forces with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally to take on French President Emmanuel Macron in the upcoming snap elections .
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“I think today it is necessary to serve the country, which is in danger,” he told television channel TF1 on Tuesday. He said the party “needs an alliance with the National Rally, with its candidates, an alliance on the right.”
“The country has never been more right-wing,” he added. “It’s a matter of waiting for the right thing.”
Ciotti’s announcement led to immediate calls for his resignation from colleagues within his party, including Olivier Marleix, chairman of the Republicans in the National Assembly.
“Eric Ciotti just commits. He must resign from the Republican presidency,” he wrote in a post on X. He added that his party’s candidates would not make deals with others.
Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called a new legislative vote, to take place over two rounds on June 30 and July 7, after his group was defeated by the National Rally in the European Parliament elections. A Harris Interactive poll on voting intentions published on Monday shows Le Pen’s party overtaking Macron’s as the largest in the lower house, although falling short of an outright majority, making alliances crucial.
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