Le Havre (AFP)

Do not call him "Mr. Prime Minister". In Le Havre, a week before the first round of "fairly tense" municipal elections, Edouard Philippe multiplies "apartment meetings" to try to convince voters in small clusters, defending a beer in his hand, his results and his program.

In a circle around a table where, teasing wink from the hosts to the news marked by the coronavirus crisis, beers "Corona" and "Sudden death" have been arranged, the twenty guests listen to Mr. Philippe clearing the sensitive subject: his double cap.

"Contrary to what some people say," go to the town hall "it is not to secure my back," says the man who will not settle in town hall until he has left Matignon.

Being Prime Minister, "will it stop the day after the municipal elections, in May 2022, or somewhere in the middle, I don't know. As long as he (Emmanuel Macron) asks me to serve, I serve", he continues.

"But one day it will stop and I know exactly what I want to do: continue what I had started in 2010", when he took over as mayor of Le Havre until 2017, he added, during this meeting which was attended by an AFP journalist.

Eight days before the election, Mr. Philippe continues this ordinary exercise for a candidate in the campaign and whom he likes: he claims to have done 132 in 2014.

And no question of formalism. "Ah no!" Thunders Edouard Philippe when a guest gives him "Monsieur the Prime Minister".

While the sweets are circulating on a large plate in this modern-style living room where furniture has been pushed, the head of government tries to forget his function and invokes his local roots and his family history.

Funny splits: here, he mottoes without jacket or tie for dogs' access to the beach in summer, before returning to the capital on Sunday for an exceptional Defense Council at the Elysée, in full spread of the coronavirus.

- "He eats the rind" -

"He makes a lot of back and forth, he eats the rind," observed one of his ministers, noting "concern" of Mr. Philippe.

A poll published this week, however, credits it with 42% of voting intentions, a comfortable advance over its main competitors, the communist Jean-Paul Lecoq (25%) and the ecologist Alexis Deck (16%).

But a hypothetical union of the left could threaten him in the second round. Anticipating the maneuver, Mr. Philippe shoots an arrow: "You will see what it's like for apparatchiks in list mergers", he taunts.

The study also does not assess abstention, very strong in 2014 (53%), knowing that a burst of mobilization could be unfavorable in the event of a sanction vote. Saturday morning, between the stalls of the Sainte-Cécile market, an activist was distributing M. Lecoq's leaflets, urging him straight away to "beat the list of Edouard Philippe".

So, in front of his small assembly mainly composed of thirty and forty-something people, clerk, lawyers, doctor, port manager ... a priori not really decided to vote Philippe on March 15, the Prime Minister only wants to "speak about Le Havre".

Inexhaustible on the big questions of mobility (tramway, airport, rail link with Paris) or industrial (offshore wind turbines), it slips however that its statute would be useful when, after the municipal ones, it will be necessary to arbitrate which of Havre, Paris or Rouen will accomodate the future headquarters of the three ports combined.

"I can see that Le Havre has exceptional assets and I hope to convince the Prime Minister", he quips, promising to be "eloquent".

But it is also less sharp on ecological issues (Dollemard landfill, place du vélo ...), relying on the advice of specialists or associations.

At the end, Mr. Philippe agrees that "mine of nothing, it is still a fairly tense campaign", in a stormy social context due to the unpopular pension reform.

And to conclude by putting on his coat: "It is good to remind everyone that democratic choices are made by people who vote and not by those ..." "Who yell", complete, hilarious, a guest.

© 2020 AFP