Francke Fife, AFP | Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy (C) attends the French L1 football match between Paris Saint-Germain vs Montpellier at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on April 22, 2017.

After its troubled candidate, François Fillon, was rejected by voters in the first round of French presidential elections, the right-wing Les Républicains are divided over the party’s direction for the second round run-off.

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Fatally wounded by a clobbering election cycle during which he was put under formal investigation for fraud, François Fillon squandered his frontrunner status to finish in third place with just under 20 percent of the vote. The top two vote winners were centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right firebrand Marine Le Pen. Voters will decide between the two on May 7.

Moments after the results were announced Sunday night, the endorsements for Macron began rolling in. Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon who came in fifth with less than seven percent of the vote immediately called upon his backers to vote Macon in the second round, as did Fillon.

Fillon’s party has been far less forthcoming with its support. Officially, Les Républicains simply called upon party members to vote against Le Pen to eliminate her in the second round, but held off on offering an out-and-out endorsement of Macron. “Faced with the National Front, abstention cannot be a choice,” the party asserted in a statement.

That’s where the fault lines have emerged. In addition to Fillon, many prominent members of the party explicitly called for people to vote for Macron on May 7. But others have thrown their support behind Marine Le Pen, including national assembly member Françoise Hostalier and Christian Democratic Party leader Christine Boutin, whose party falls under the umbrella of Les Républicains.

The differences of opinion are leading towards an all-out internecine war within the right. Nice deputy mayor Christian Estrosi said that party members who support Le Pen should be stripped of their memberships, as should adherents to the anti-gay marriage bloc Common Direction (Sens Commun).

Les Républicains powerhouse and former president Nicolas Sarkozy announced Wednesday that he would vote for Macron in the second round.

Political analysts posit that Sarkozy and other leaders from his party are plotting a return to power though a coalition with Macron’s En Marche! (Onward!) Party. Few observers believe that Macron’s nascent political movement will be able to snag enough seats in the June legislative elections to govern on its own.

But while right-leaning Sarkozy reportedly wants to sideline Macron and install his protégé François Baroin as prime minister, moderates within his party led by longtime politician Alain Juppé are willing to join forces with the centrist Macron.

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