A Paris court has overturned a decision by the center-right Les Républicains party to expel their president, Éric Ciotti.
Leaders of the party voted on Wednesday to oust Ciotti after he attempted to forge an alliance with the far-right National Rally (RN) ahead of the coming parliamentary elections. The party confirmed the expulsion on Friday following a meeting of the political committee.
But on Friday evening, the Paris judicial court invalidated the move, ruling in Ciotti’s favor.
Ciotti confirmed the decision on social media, saying that the court had “suspended my exclusion from the Républicains.”
“I therefore retain the exercise of my functions as president,” he added.
Ciotti sparked fury among his party members earlier this week, when he said his party would work with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s National Rally in a joint effort to beat French President Emmanuel Macron. Party officials within Les Républicains immediately called for Ciotti’s resignation and called an extraordinary political committee to oust him.
Ciotti called the decision “illegal” and even locked his colleagues out of party headquarters in an attempt to retain power.
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