A YEAR ago Les Républicains (LR), the centre-right party in France, looked set to win presidential and parliamentary elections. Today, after many humiliations, they are licking their partly self-inflicted wounds. After François Fillon, an unpopular former prime minister, unexpectedly became its front man thanks to a new primary system, the party doggedly stuck with its failing candidate, long after a scandal about extravagant payments to his wife had obviously doomed his campaign.
That lack of institutional ruthlessness hints at problems beyond a dud candidate who only just avoided coming fourth in the presidential poll. The heart of LR’s difficulty is an ideological split that means it is ill-placed to oppose the government of President Emmanuel Macron.
One faction, associated with Nicolas Sarkozy, an ex-president and inveterate party plotter, yearns for a bold rightward turn. In hostility to migrants, Muslims and gay marriage, it spies...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/2zjudRG
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