For Philippe, "it is the votes that really count" and not "the demonstrators" - France 24

Metz (AFP)

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe considered Tuesday that "what really matters in choosing the representatives are the votes", not "the demonstrators", during a meeting of the candidate LREM at the town hall of Metz.

"In a democracy, we do not count the decibels, we do not count the demonstrators. We can, but what really matters in choosing the representatives are the votes," said the head of government.

This is the first time that Edouard Philippe, himself a candidate for Le Havre, participated in a support meeting of a candidate for the municipal elections. Last year, during the European women's campaign, he went to several provincial towns to support the Renaissance list carried by La République en Marche.

The candidate LREM in the chief town of the Moselle, Richard Lioger, deputy walker after having been first deputy of the socialist mayor of Metz for ten years, is in difficulty, according to an opinion study by Ifop carried out at the beginning of the month . It collects 11% of voting intentions, behind the Republican François Grosidider, the candidate of the union of the left and the candidate RN.

He also accuses a dissidence of the former referent of the running Republic of this department, Béatrice Agamennone, credited with 3% of voting intentions.

However, this summer, another local figure of the macronie, the MoDem Nathalie Griesbeck, was given the winner in another opinion study - this former MEP finally gave up running.

"Our responsibility is to remind those who are going to vote on March 15 and 22 that their vote is the essential element of democratic choice, much more than polls, than comments, than editorials, than television channels. "continuous information", thundered the Prime Minister again.

In a hollow spade against François Grosdidier, favorite for this municipal election but former mayor for sixteen years of a commune in the suburbs of Metz, Woippy, Édouard Philippe tackled those "who come to such a place, because it is bigger, because you have a chance to win. " "We choose to stand for election, to be mayor of a city we have in our guts," he said.

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