US EditionFrench interior minister wins contest to lead conservative party
- Bruno Retailleau won the leadership of France's centre-right Les Republicains party on May 11, 2025, in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris.
- Retailleau's election followed an internal party vote where he defeated Laurent Wauquiez amid LR's struggle to regain relevance after declining support.
- Retailleau serves as Interior Minister, pushing hardline policies against immigration and drug crime, while LR membership surged before the vote.
- He secured just over 74% of the vote in an internal election with around 80% turnout from approximately 120,000 members and stated, "Our political family can now advance our agenda."
- His leadership strengthens his status as a leading conservative ahead of the 2027 presidential election, despite critique that his rhetoric outpaces his results.
80 Articles
80 Articles
French interior minister wins contest to lead conservative party
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was voted the new leader of the centre-right Republicans (LR) party on Sunday, bolstering his chances ahead of a 2027 presidential election in which many believe he will run.
Retailleau at the Helm: New Leader of France’s Main Conservative Senate Bloc
At the helm of a storm-tossed vessel, Bruno Retailleau has seized the captain’s wheel of Les Républicains. With over 74 per cent of the party’s internal vote, France’s current Interior Minister now commands a battered ship, adrift after years of mutiny, scandal and electoral shipwrecks. But as the old Parisian motto reminds us, fluctuat nec mergitur: tossed by the waves, but never sunk. Retailleau, a man of iron convictions and sharp rhetoric, h…
News24 | Anti-immigration Minister wins conservative party leadership, easing path France presidency
France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has called for radical action to cut immigration numbers, easily won an election to become leader of the conservative Republican party (LR).
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