- Three government ministers made the trip this Thursday and Friday to Marseille to support the candidate LREM.
- The campaign by Yvon Berland, a little-known and internally contested candidate, has had a complicated start.
- By joining forces with the UDI or other personalities of the local right, Yvon Berland seeks to win votes for Martine Vassal, LR candidate whom he faces on his lands.
One tenth of the government, expressly dispatched from Paris, in just two days. This Thursday, no less than two ministers left the capital to come and support Yvon Berland, the majority candidate in the municipal elections in Marseille. Julien Denormandie and Muriel Pénicaud participated in a debate organized by the candidate LREM this Thursday, in the evening. This Friday, it is the turn of the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal to come to Marseille to support Yvon Berland.
What give a second breath to the campaign of the candidate of the presidential majority? The beginnings of Yvon Berland, candidate from civil society, in Marseille politics, are indeed somewhat sluggish. A poll carried out eight weeks before the first round credited him with only 8% of the vote, while the presidential majority had totaled 20.59% of the votes in Marseille for the Europeans. 20 Minutes dissected the former doctor's campaign and took stock.
A candidate in notoriety. The arrival of these three ministers in Marseille in such a short period of time has an advantage for LREM: that of giving the candidacy of Yvon Berland a relative media resonance. “Yvon Berland is not at all known to the general public, analyzes political scientist Joël Gombin. In an election like the municipal elections, the notoriety and the personality of the candidate, that counts! LREM and Emmanuel Macron's strategy of going after someone unknown is very risky… ”
Also, for a few weeks, Yvon Berland has been trying to make himself known to the Marseillais, notably by adding his name to local personalities much better known than him, like Mamadou Niang, candidate on his lists in the 15th and 16th arrondissements. “I have the support of the President of the Republic, prides himself on Yvon Berland, when asked about the purpose of these ministerial visits. There are ministers who come. Is this good ? Is it not good? At least that gives credibility to my candidacy… ”
The man who whispered in the government's ear? He made it one of his campaign arguments: Yvon Berland was chosen by the head of the party, if not by the President of the Republic himself, and would maintain a privileged relationship with the highest spheres of the State. "Elected mayor of Marseille, I will work hand in hand with the government and the decentralized state services", he wrote thus there is little in a press release, while the Minister of Health had released an important sum for the renovation of Marseilles hospitals.
A double-edged sword strategy if you consider the President's popularity rating at the lowest. "It is quite surprising, when we know the distrust of Marseillais towards Paris, notes Joël Gombin. And this strategy which consists of bringing in ministers and saying that it will help the city was that of certain socialists in 2014, and it had not worked… ”
A contested personality. "You see, what we asked to do, what the presidential majority wants is to gather, to have a broad progressive arc, said this Wednesday Yvon Berland after the rallying of Christophe Madrolle (UDE). We are doing it, and it is not finished. We will gather around my candidacy, more broadly than some would have imagined. "
Behind the scenes, the LREM block, which would like to be united and compact around Yvon Berland, still includes some cracks. First there was Jean-Christophe Agresti, a time LREM candidate and close to Emmanuel Macron, who recently joined the candidate the Republicans Martine Vassal. There is also the member for the northern districts and close to Marlène Schiappa, Alexandra Louis, who, after a long work of local anchoring, surprisingly decided not to take part in this municipal campaign. "I am convinced that we must fight the clientelist system with all the nuances that there may be," explains the parliamentarian to La Marseillaise. If you want to embody change, you have to do it in a certain way. They closed a door for me, put me aside. It's a shame, but it's their choice and I respect it. "
"At the time of the nomination, they took few walkers from the start, strongly involved in the movement from the start," regrets a historic Marseille walker, at the forefront of previous electoral battles. I am active, and I have not even been contacted, if only to help in the campaign. But this campaign, anyway, does not take. "And tackle, after the slippage of the candidate LREM who threatened a journalist of Les Echos :" Yvon Berland does not make you want ... And what he did, insult anyone, it is not tolerable! "A distrust that would be marginal, pest some Marseille walkers, who recall the support of Marseille LREM deputies like Saïd Ahamada or Cathy Racon-Bouzon.
A difficult duel against Martine Vassal For his baptism of electoral fire, Yvon Berland chose to face… the candidate LR Martine Vassal, on his lands and those historically of Jean-Claude Gaudin, the 6th and 8th arrondissements, to the chagrin of this latest. Since then, little by little, to grab some ground, the candidate LREM constitutes his team by trying to walk on the flowerbeds of the president of the metropolis.
By his side to beat Martine Vassal, Yvon Berland thus obtained the rallying of Caroline Pozmentier, outgoing assistant of Jean-Claude Gaudin in charge of security, a time much publicized. This Thursday, it is the turn of the UDI, hitherto partner of the Republicans for the municipal elections, to join, with fifteen party people in an eligible position. Yvon Berland however refrains from making "party agreements" there and claims to choose his running mate according to their "skills" and common ideas.
“We can wonder about the real objective of Yvon Berland, says Joël Gombin. One wonders if he wants to win the town hall or if he mourned it. His victory in 6-8 will be on condition that he defeats Vassal! He chooses to break with Vassal, and at the same time, he presents himself on a sector rather to the right, which means that he must right his speech. It gives a certain contradiction, a scrambled message. As a good OM fan that he thinks, Yvon Berland, never stingy with a football metaphor, would surely reply that a match is not played until the referee has whistled the end of the game ...
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Municipal in 2020 in Marseille: LREM candidate Yvon Berland threatens a journalist