Paris (AFP)

From outrage to consensus, the tone has radically changed since Thursday on a postponement of municipal elections, now demanded by almost the entire political class

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe started Monday morning before the severity of the epidemic. to consult by telephone the party leaders and the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate on the advisability of maintaining the second round of municipal elections scheduled for Sunday.

"The health situation in our country must guide all of our decisions. Everything else is secondary," insisted Monday PS boss Olivier Faure, adding: organizing the second round of municipal elections under these conditions "would appear lunar".

Emmanuel Macron had planned last Thursday to postpone the poll, including the first round. But the opposition, especially on the right, immediately went to the crenel.

"If that were the case, it was a coup," protested the president of the Republicans Christian Jacob, while the number two of RN Jordan Bardella denounced an "amateurism (...) extremely worrying for more ". The boss of MoDem François Bayrou was then one of the few to weigh for a report.

LR François Baroin, also president of the Association of Mayors of France, but also Martine Aubry (PS), Anne Hidalgo (PS) have expressed their total opposition. The president (LR) of the Senate Gérard Larcher also expressed his disagreement to Emmanuel Macron, who finally decided to maintain the municipal elections.

Change of tone on Saturday evening: in the wake of the new containment measures announced by Edouard Philippe, elected officials from all sides demanded a postponement of the elections, a few hours before the first round.

Among them, a certain number of personalities on the right: Xavier Bertrand (ex-LR president of Hauts de France), Valérie Pécresse ex-LR, Ile-de-France) Renaud Muselier (LR, PACA) ...

"It would be almost funny if it weren't appalling," said a ministerial adviser, annoyed to see that requests for postponement sometimes came from the very people who argued for maintenance 48 hours earlier.

On Sunday, abstention reached a record (56%). The balance sheet of the epidemic rose to 120 dead and 5,400 cases. Christian Jacob himself tested positive for the coronavirus.

- "Lunar" -

The tone then definitely shifts to the political class.

Besides Olivier Faure, calling for "containment measures" without delay, the boss of the LR group in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, considered "not reasonable to maintain the second round".

"The second round will clearly not take place given the foreseeable worsening of the epidemic" said Sunday evening the president of RN Marine Le Pen, who decided to confine herself "as a precaution" to her home Monday.

Many candidates have stopped their campaign: Agnès Buzyn (LREM) and Cédric Vilani (ex-LREM) in Paris, Jacques Kossowski (LR) in Courbevoie and Damien Meslot (LR) in Belfort, François Rebsamen (PS) in Dijon ...

Many ask, however, not to erase the entire election. We must consider as "acquired" the victories in the first round and "postpone the others," said Le Pen.

"I would like the elected mayors to be sanctuarized in the first round, out of respect for the voters," said PCF secretary general Fabien Roussel to AFP.

The boss of deputies LR Damien Abad also wants "that the results of the first round be counted".

But "it is not possible that Macron decides this alone," warns the national secretary of EELV Julien Bayou

Many call the executive to "transparency", regretting, especially on the right, not to have had all the cards in hand last week, when they called for the maintenance of the poll.

"What we want is that this decision is the fruit of a political consensus", that it "rests on scientific bases" and that it "is cut quickly", affirms Mr. Abad.

The head of state is expected to announce the decision on Monday evening during a solemn address at 8:00 p.m. expected by a whole country.

© 2020 AFP