PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Les Republicains conservative right-wing party will choose between Valerie Pecresse and Eric Ciotti to be their 2022 presidential candidate, according to the results of a first-round party vote on Thursday.
Party leader Christian Jacob said Valerie Pecresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region and the only woman in the race, and Eric Ciotti, a lawmaker in France’s National Assembly, made it through to the final vote.
The result of that run-off vote is due on Saturday at around 2.30 p.m local time (1330 GMT).
French opinion polls currently put President Emmanuel Macron as the likely winner of the 2022 election, with far-right politician Marine Le Pen from the Rassemblement National party seen as his closest challenger.
(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta/Tassilo Hummel)
