Éric Ciotti wants to hold a referendum ‘to stop mass immigration’ and set up ‘a French Guantánamo bay’
A hard-right French MP who wants to hold a referendum “to stop mass immigration” and set up “a French Guantánamo bay” to deal with terrorism, has topped the first-round vote to choose a presidential candidate for the right’s Les Républicains party, in a shock result.
Éric Ciotti, 56, a politician from Nice who is known for his hardline views on Islam and immigration, went from outsider to the surprise top position in Thursday’s first-round vote by members of Nicolas Sarkozy’s party. He now faces a second-round runoff against Valérie Pécresse, the former Sarkozy minister who wants to become France’s first female president.
