The Minister of the Interior wins by a wide margin over Laurent Wauquiez and becomes the natural candidate of the Right for 2027.
End of a long suspense. After three months of campaigning, the members of the Républicains (LR) party decided on Sunday May 18, 2025, electing Bruno Retailleau as president of their party with a clear 74.31% of the vote, against 25.7% for Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Strong mobilization of militants
The ballot aroused great interest within the party, with an exceptional 80% turnout among the 120,000 members called to the electronic ballot box. By Saturday evening, Bruno Retailleau’s entourage indicated that a quarter of the party’s members had already expressed their choice, presaging this strong mobilization.
The party finally stabilized after months of crisis
This election puts an end to several months of vacancy at the head of the party. The post had been vacant since the exclusion of Éric Ciotti, who had caused a political earthquake by joining forces with the Rassemblement National in the early legislative elections last June. Despite several court rulings in the former president’s favor, the crisis was finally resolved in the autumn when the Alpes-Maritimes MP decided to leave Les Républicains.
By winning this election by such a large margin, Bruno Retailleau, currently Minister of the Interior, is now positioned as the natural candidate for the right-wing presidential election in 2027.
🔴 Bruno Retailleau a gagné son pari. Huit mois après son entrée au gouvernement comme ministre de l’Intérieur, l’ancien sénateur vendéen devient ce dimanche président des Républicains (LR), plébiscité par 74,31% des adhérents. →https://t.co/2aD3HV9uJB pic.twitter.com/1cMXPy1jN4
— Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) May 18, 2025
