Court overturns move to expel Ciotti as head of France's conservative Republicans

Eric Ciotti, contested leader of French conservative party Les Republicains (The Republicans - LR), looks out a window of the party headquarters in Paris, the day after LR party's chiefs excluded their leader Ciotti who called for a country-wide alliance between his party's candidates and far-right National Rally (RN) in forthcoming parliamentary elections in France, June 13, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris court ruled on Friday to overturn an earlier decision by France's conservative Republicans party to expel Eric Ciotti as the party chief, said Ciotti, in a move that could boost the far-right National Rally party ahead of parliament elections.

"The Paris court tribunal has suspended the move to expel me from the Republicans. I therefore continue to exercise my functions as party president," said Ciotti on social media platform X, confirming earlier French media reports.

The Republicans party had earlier this week voted to expel Ciotti after he had called for an electoral alliance with Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Sudip Kar-Gupta)