Éric Ciotti (French pronunciation: [eʁik sjɔti] , Italian: [ˈtʃɔtti]; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who has led the Gaullist The Republicans (LR) party since 2022. He has represented the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the National Assembly since the 2007 legislative election. He is a member of his party's right-wing, seeking to distance it from Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
Ciotti briefly served as First Deputy Mayor of Nice under Mayor Christian Estrosi in 2008, before he assumed the presidency of the Departmental Council of Alpes-Maritimes from 2008 to 2017. He sought the party's nomination for the 2022 presidential election at its 2021 congress; he unexpectedly placed first in the first round of voting, but was defeated by centre-right candidate Valérie Pécresse in the second round. In December 2022, following Pécresse's historic loss in the presidential election, he was elected president of The Republicans, placing first in the first round and winning the second round against Senator Bruno Retailleau, with whom he has worked closely with since he took office as leader.
Source : Wikipedia
