In the spotlight: D-1 before the regional and departmental elections in France
Audio 04:45
Election signs in the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille.
June 11, 2021 © Nicolas TUCAT / AFP
By: Norbert Navarro
10 mins
Publicity
With less than a year before the presidential election, this ballot will be a test. What will the participation rate be? Will the National Rally take the lead, Sunday evening, June 20, at the end of the first round, and if so, in which region, in which department? What will then be the attitude of other parties and political formations in view of the second round against Marine Le Pen's party? So many issues that jostle in the front page of the French press, while between deconfinement, end of the curfew on Sunday and the European football tournament, the French have rather "
their heads elsewhere
", admits
Le Figaro
.
Which newspaper predicts "
massive
"
abstention
, first;
considers that “
the future of the left appears to be in a lasting state of jeopardy
”, then;
considers that "
that of the right is also played in part at the beginning of summer
", finally.
When it comes to Emmanuel Macron, he is "
hardly under any illusions,
"
Le Figaro
reports
, the Head of State not being able "
to expect much from these regions, except that they designate his future opponents.
Then the race for 2022 can begin
”.
Diagnosis generally shared by
Le Parisien
.
Which newspaper regrets for the same reasons that this election is "
evaded
".
However, since this ballot is a "
warming-up
" for the presidential election next year, "
why not try to weigh now, by going to vote on Sunday,
" suggests
Le Parisien
.
In France again, the decision to postpone the third confinement to early April, rather than early February, would have resulted in a human cost of more than 14,000 deaths.
Estimate signed by
Le Monde
newspaper
:
According to an investigation by this daily, “
around
14,600 deaths, 112,000
hospitalizations, including 28,000
in intensive care, and 160,000
cases of long-term Covid-19 could have been avoided
”.
As
Le Monde
recalls
, on January 29, Emmanuel Macron had decided "
not to quickly reconfigure the country, while the number of contaminations increased sharply
" and this decision had been "
widely criticized
".
According to an investigation by this evening daily, "
the time that will elapse before the decision to reconfine, finally announced at the end of March, would [therefore] have caused more than
14,000 deaths
".
But Emmanuel Macron made "
the daring bet of optimism
", estimates
Le Monde
, and this bet
"
has been won, largely thanks to the success of the vaccination. Today, no one reproaches him for going too fast. The aspiration to return to normal life, against a backdrop of scorching heat and the multiplication of festive events, has become irrepressible. Above all, the alarmist forecasts of certain scientists have not come true,
”underlines this daily.
In Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters are recovering from the return of the former president, Thursday, June 17, after ten years of absence from the country.
Event deemed sufficiently striking by
Le Figaro
to justify a new spotlight.
For the second consecutive daily delivery, this newspaper recounts the “
jubilation
” in Abidjan on Thursday, but also the “
resentment
”.
Friday morning, the return of Laurent Gbagbo had been hoisted on the front page of
Le Figaro
.
This Saturday morning, it is on the inside page that the readers of this daily can discover the rest of the report by the special envoy of
Le Figaro
in Abidjan.
The jubilation, in fact, in Atoban, at the campaign headquarters of the candidate of the Ivorian Popular Front during the 2010 presidential election, where there was “
an air of fair and a kind of almost religious fervor. The crowd is compact, filling the small streets of Cocody, a district of Abidjan, their eyes riveted on the high walls of a house where Laurent Gbagbo has finally arrived
", reports
Le Figaro
, among his supporters who"
do not shy away from their joy.
At nightfall, we exteriorize, shouting the graces of "Woody de Mama", and we sing in honor of this long-awaited return [...] the "Gbagbo or nothing", faithful among the faithful during this decade of absence, communion.
Their necks outstretched, they chant: "We want to see Gbagbo."
Others taunt, almost ecstatic: "We saw Gbagbo."
They are the lucky ones,
”says
Le Figaro
.
Liesse, therefore, but also resentment.
“
We were prevented from walking towards the airport.
We were chased,
”said a local FPI official by the name of Bodiga Ismaël to this daily.
"
Not everyone is delighted with Gbagbo's return
,"
said a minister to
Le Figaro
.
Which newspaper emphasizes that Laurent Gbagbo "
wants time" to mourn his dead ".
He should go to Mama, his village in the west of the country, to his mother's grave.
The future will come then,
”assures
Le Figaro
.
With the future, it is true, it is often the case ...
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Regional elections in France
Laurent Gbagbo
Ivory Coast Politics