Court suspends French right-wing leader Ciotti's expulsion from party Article by Le Monde

Le Monde has published an article saying Eric Ciotti won a legal battle against the rest of his party's leadership, which is seeking to oust him following his unilateral decision to form an alliance with the far right. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

A Paris court suspended the expulsion of the president of the right-wing party Les Républicains, Friday, June 14. Eric Ciotti was voted out Wednesday by the rest of the leadership after he broke a historic taboo this week, announcing that his party would form an alliance with the far-right Rassemblement National (RN).

Ciotti contested the legitimacy of the decision, arguing that party rules said only the president could call a meeting of the committee that voted to oust him. The members of the committee met again on Friday morning to hold a second vote to expel him.

The court ordered "the suspension of the effects of the two definitive exclusions pronounced against Eric Ciotti on June 12 and 14," it said. It added the suspension was valid only "until the pronouncement of a definitive decision on the merits."

The court's decision means that Ciotti in the coming days can keep control of LR, with access to the party's offices and membership files, and make decisions on who to nominate in the upcoming snap elections.

"The justice system has spoken, I am the president of Les Républicains," Ciotti said in a statement to Agence France-Presse. He said he would "lead this legislative election campaign so that the alliance of the right triumphs, to beat the far left which represents a major peril fr our country."

'I'm going to my office'

Ciotti insisted throughout the chaotic week that he was still party leader, dismissing the effort to oust him as "quibbles, little battles by mediocre people... who understand nothing about what's going on in the country," adding that it was legally void. "I'm president of the party, I'm going to my office and that's it," Ciotti told reporters as he arrived at LR's headquarters in Paris on Thursday. He called his opponents' vote a "takeover" attempt.

Viral images had spread on social media the day before, of Paris region president Valérie Pécresse rolling up her sleeves as she approached the LR party headquarters closed by Ciotti in an apparent bid to prevent the party's political committee from meeting to oust him.

Another largely shared and commented clip shows Ciotti back inside the LR headquarters after he was voted out. He can be seen smiling and telling journalists that he has normal access to the building. A little while after that, Ciotti posted a video on his X account where he can be seen in his office and sitting at his desk. The caption reads "At work for France!"

But some on the right remain open to the RN. François-Xavier Bellamy, the party's lead candidate in Sunday's European elections, said he would "of course" vote for an RN candidate over the left in a second-round run-off. "I'll do everything to prevent La France Insoumise from coming to power," Bellamy told Europe 1 radio, referring to the radical-left party that struck an alliance with other the rest of the left.