This was announced by the party secretary on Wednesday.
The proposal to cooperate with Marine Le Pen's far-right party caused a shock in French politics, and therefore was not well received within the party's ranks either.
On Wednesday afternoon, party secretary Annie Genevard said Ciotti was out of the party.
– The Republicans will present to the French people clear and independent candidates for the elections scheduled for June 30 and July 7, says Genevard.
Ciotti himself does not seem to agree.
“I am, and will remain, party leader,” he wrote in a message on X, after the exclusion became known on Wednesday afternoon.
Ciotti continues to raise his swords and claims that the eviction is invalid and will have consequences.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sioti closed the party headquarters and was said to have asked staff to move out by 12 noon. While Le Parisien newspaper wrote that an emergency meeting was scheduled for later in the day, Ciotti claimed that the closure had been done for the safety of party members.
The Conservative Republicans and their predecessors have long been seen as ruling parties, and have given France presidents such as Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. In recent years, the party has found itself in conflict between President Emmanuel Macron's centrist movement and the far right.
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