Why is Valérie Pécresse struggling to make her mark in the presidential campaign?
Audio 02:48
Valérie Pécresse, Les Républicains candidate for the French presidential election of 2022, during a meeting in Paris, December 11, 2022. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY
By: Lucile Gimberg Follow
3 mins
His designation in the Les Républicains primary in early December gave him wings, to the point of being in a position to qualify for the second round according to the polls.
But at the start of 2022, the trajectory of Valérie Pécresse, LR presidential candidate, looks more like a hover.
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The candidate often refers to the great figures of the right: Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, from whom she emerged "
the Karcher
".
But what is her style, her own identity?
Hard to say.
"
She is less different from Emmanuel Macron than his former rival in the primary, Xavier Bertrand
," said a close adviser to the president.
His teams recognize a "
notoriety deficit
" but dispute that his rhetoric is weak.
His line is too plastic, also judges a majority executive.
“She has a problem on her right and on her left
”, continues a former LR today in Macronie.
“
All of this is neither head nor tail
,” pounded someone close to Marine Le Pen.
Not easy indeed to make the big difference between the voters tempted by
Eric Zemmour
and those attracted by Emmanuel Macron.
Too classic a campaign, not enough striking proposals?
"
Leave him a few weeks
", defends a close adviser,
"ideas take time to infuse
".
Above all, by claiming that he wanted to "piss off" the non-vaccinated, Emmanuel Macron threw a stone into the pond and
"it reduced the impact of our start to the campaign
", concedes an LR deputy.
So Valérie Pécresse redoubles her efforts...
To her credit, she managed to bring her political family together.
That's no small feat right.
“Remember the
divisions after the
2016
primary ,” recalls an elected official who supports her.
Now the candidate is plowing the field.
►
To read also
: Valérie Pécresse displays the reunion with Laurent Wauquiez
No question of letting the agenda be dictated by the outgoing president.
In addition to regular outings on security and immigration, she talks about agriculture,
rurality
, school during numerous regional trips.
A way, by the way, to give yourself a local side that it lacks.
Valérie Pécresse is also working on her stature as Head of State, by going abroad – Armenia,
Greece
and soon Africa.
"She has to talk about national defense
," advises an LR deputy.
►
To read also:
Why Zemmour and Pécresse are making their first candidate trip to Armenia
In short, “
we are in an expected phase of stabilization
”, assures this same elected official.
But to win, it is not enough to follow the method and not make mistakes.
You also have to inspire.
Are his chances of being in the match next April dwindling?
No, we're not there yet.
In the polls, the president of the Ile-de-France region battles with Marine Le Pen for second place in the second round, against Emmanuel Macron.
And by the very admission of an executive of the presidential majority, it is the most dangerous for the Head of State, because, he says, "
it is more likely to bring together an 'everything but Macron' front
" .
.
►
Also to listen
: Why does Pécresse scare Macron?
(the campaign minute)
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French politics
Presidential France 2022
Valerie Pécresse
France