Candidate for his re-election to the presidency of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the Republican Renaud Muselier assured Wednesday, during a press conference, that he would not agree with the presidential majority, even if he invites the latter to support him, and some of its members to join him.
DECRYPTION
In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the soap opera of regional elections continues.
Less than 24 hours after officially announcing his candidacy, Republican Renaud Muselier swept aside during a press conference on Wednesday the hypothesis of an apparatus agreement with La République en Marche.
The outgoing president of the Regional Council, candidate for his re-election, wants to gather large, but ensures that he will not walk behind anyone, and especially not behind Sophie Cluzel, the LREM candidate who, according to our information, would have been sent by Emmanuel Macron precisely to prepare a rapprochement with the local right.
For Muselier, the threat Mariani
"I am going to get out of the shackles of political apparatus, so I say it and I repeat it: there will be no agreement of apparatus", insisted Renaud Muselier. "The place, of course, is open to all those of the regional majority with its eight components, including those who are engaged in the presidential majority. And besides, common sense would like that the presidential majority give me its support. ", did he declare.
The stake: to block the ex-LR Thierry Mariani, passed in the camp of Marine Le Pen, and which, according to the polls, represents a major threat for the re-election of Renaud Muselier.
But according to an Ifop study, carried out in mid-April for
La Tribune
and Europe 1, an LR-LREM alliance would allow the pair to get ahead of the National Gathering and win on the evening of June 27 (39% against 37%) .
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A risky maneuver
However, the hypothesis of a merger of the LR list with that of the marchers from the first round, widely mentioned in recent days, has provoked the ire of several tenors of the local right, such as Eric Ciotti and the deputy of Vaucluse Julien Aubert, who threatened to abandon the campaign.
If this merger would allow Emmanuel Macron to establish marchers in PACA - a significant asset one year before the presidential election - it is a double-edged sword for LR, because a possible re-election of Renaud Muselier via the support of the presidential majority could also push anti-Macron right-wing voters to turn to the National Rally.
What LR could pay the price in 2022.
A tightrope walk exercise
Enough to push Renaud Muselier to play the balancing act, demanding the support of walkers without merging lists, but without closing the door to case-by-case reconciliations. "Today, there is a list La République en Marche, led by a member of the government. It is up to the presidential majority to decide whether they wish to maintain this list or provide me with support," he said. he estimated Wednesday. Before adding: "In the region, I know that there are skills in the presidential majority that can help us in the crisis, as in the way out of the crisis. We can add them together, we gain by bringing together and we are honor to surpass oneself in all cases. "