Paris (AFP)
Major maneuvers and behind-the-scenes negotiations for the first round of the regional elections on June 20 formally ended at noon on Monday, with the closing of the filing of the lists, which marks a milestone before the opening of the official campaign on the 31st. may.
Paca, the soap opera of an LR-LREM alliance
Out of the 13 metropolitan regions, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and its outgoing president LR Renaud Muselier wins the prize for suspense.
Fifteen candidates of the presidential majority will finally be present on the 135 names of the list that he unveiled on Friday, but not the Secretary of State Sophie Cluzel, former head of LREM, who gave his "support" to Mr. Muzzle.
For the outgoing president, it was a question of developing the best formula to beat the candidate RN Thierry Mariani (himself ex-LR), given winner in the first round according to several polls.
But the announcement at the beginning of May of an alliance between LR and LREM by Prime Minister Jean Castex, had provoked a real psychodrama within the Republicans, Christian Estrosi and Hubert Falco even slamming the door of the party.
"No device agreement with LREM", neither ministers nor LREM deputies on his list: Mr. Muselier believes he has kept his commitments to his political family.
But the soap opera may not be over, as several LR officials have called on their party to withdraw support for Mr. Muselier.
About fifteen ministers at the front
In Hauts-de-France alone, they are five members of the government, including the two heavyweights Eric Dupond-Moretti and Gérald Darmanin, to launch out to try to disturb the duel announced between the outgoing president Xavier Bertrand (ex- LR) and RN.
In addition to the Ministers of Justice and the Interior, Alain Griset and Agnès Pannier-Runacher joined the LREM list led by the Secretary of State in charge of Pensions Laurent Pietraszewski.
The president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen will be a candidate for the departmental in the canton of Hénin-Beaumont.
At the beginning of May, an Ipsos poll gave Xavier Bertrand at the top of the regional voting intentions at 35%, ahead of the RN list led by Sébastien Chenu (32%), the left-wing union list of the ecologist Karima Delli at 20% and that of Laurent Pietraszewski at 10%.
While the ballot promises to be difficult everywhere for the troops of Emmanuel Macron, they will be five members of the government also on the LREM list in Ile-de-France, where the outgoing president Valérie Pécresse (ex-LR, Libres!) Makes the race in the lead in the polls ahead of RN number 2, Jordan Bardella, the three left-wing candidates - Audrey Pulvar (PS), Clémentine Autain (LFI-PCF), Julien Bayou (EELV) - and LREM Laurent Saint-Martin .
Marlène Schiappa is head of the list in Paris, Amélie de Montchalin, head of the list in Essonne, Emmanuelle Wargon, number 2 in Val-de-Marne and Nathalie Elimas, head of the list in Val-d'Oise.
The government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, presents himself in the last place in the Hauts-de-Seine.
The MoDem Marc Fesneau (Center-Val-de-Loire) and Geneviève Darrieussecq (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) are also candidates for the regional elections.
Sébastien Lecornu and Brigitte Bourguignon have aligned themselves for the departmental.
2022, the 3rd round
The fate of Xavier Bertrand can weigh heavily for Emmanuel Macron.
Officially a candidate for the 2022 presidential election, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would retire from political life in the event of failure in the regional elections.
He said Sunday in an interview with the JDD that "Emmanuel Macron's only objective is to have the RN elected" in his region, "by coldly and cynically pursuing his strategy to face Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election".
The president of the LREM group in the National Assembly, Christophe Castaner, returned the ball to him, affirming that he is leading the "fight" of the regional "with a national goal".
He "is already in the 3rd round, the 3rd round is leaving Hauts-de-France," he said.
In Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse has also made her re-election at the head of the region the condition of a possible candidacy for the Elysee in 2022.
And like Mr. Bertrand, she ruled out allying with LREM after the first round, even if there was a risk that she would be beaten in the second round on June 27.
© 2021 AFP