Departmental: Gérald Darmanin candidate in the North - France 24

Lille (AFP)

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced Tuesday to the Voix du Nord his candidacy, with the agreement of Emmanuel Macron, to the departmental in the North, where the departure of the outgoing president (ex-LR) of the departmental council rebuffs the cards right and center-right.

"Voters do not care about the logic of the apparatus," Mr. Darmanin assured the regional daily.

"There must be against the RN the union of republicans in the broad sense, as in Paca", region where LREM withdrew its list in favor of LR Renaud Muselier for the regional elections, triggering a storm on the right.

"The appointment is good, the election is better. This is how we derive its legitimacy", explains the minister, who presents himself in the canton of Tourcoing-2 in tandem with Doriane Bécue, vice -President (DVD) of the department, which succeeded her as mayor of Tourcoing.

"If I can bring a little legitimacy and a little local humus to Paris, that's part of what the President of the Republic wants", he assures, stressing that he will vote in the regional elections for the LREM candidate Laurent Pietraszewski.

"The candidacy of Gerald Darmanin does not pose any problem to me," assured AFP the outgoing president of the departmental council, Jean-René Lecerf, whose current majority includes LR, UDI and elected without label.

The outgoing president denounces "the demonization of the Republic in March" following the "Paca affair".

"If the departmental majority of tomorrow, which I hope very close" to that "of today, can have the Minister of the Interior in his flock, it is rather good for everyone," he believes. -he.

According to him, Mr. Darmanin would not give up his ministerial functions and would not run for the presidency of the Departmental Council, an analysis shared by Mr. Pietraszewski.

The boss of the Republicans of the North Sébastien Huyghe assures on the contrary that this candidacy does not collect "any agreement of the Republicans and the UDI".

"We have nothing to do with the presidential majority, we will not compromise with one of its representatives."

The Minister of the Interior also underlines to maintain a "particular friendship" for Xavier Bertrand, head of the list of the right to the regional ones,

"I repeat that Xavier Bertrand must support the President of the Republic. Basically, our electorate is common. And the danger is the RN," both for the regional and for the presidential, insists Gerald Darmanin.

© 2021 AFP