They are campaigning for their re-election to the presidency of their region, but their minds are also turned towards the Elysee. Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse and Laurent Wauquiez all three have a presidential ambition, each hoping to be the one who will represent the right in 2022. Their strategy to achieve this differs however: when the first has already officially declared his candidacy, the other two prefer to remain discreet and first ensure their victory to the regional. The ballot on June 20 and 27 is therefore of particular importance for these three candidates who are engaged in a battle from a distance.

In this little game, Xavier Bertrand has taken the lead.

Officially a candidate for the 2022 presidential election since March 24 and a river interview in Le Point magazine, the president of the Hauts-de-France region has it both ways: proposals for his region and others for the nation.

A strategy that allows him to tackle subjects which do not fall within the prerogatives of the regional council - such as security, the reindustrialisation of France or the pension reform - but which will not fail to reach the ears of his constituents.

>> To read: Regional 2021: Karima Delli and the left united in combat in Hauts-de-France

Above all, Xavier Bertrand, who left Les Républicains in 2017, continues to proclaim it: his candidacy does not depend on what the right-wing party will do in the fall.

"I will not go into any primary process. My state of mind is very clear: a presidential election is the meeting of a candidate and the French. If I left Les Républicains - c ' was my party, it remains my political family - it is not to return to a system ", he said, Thursday, June 17, on Franceinfo, forgetting, however, to mention that he will need human resources and LR financiers to campaign.

I will not go into any primary process.

A presidential election is the meeting between a candidate and the French.

pic.twitter.com/ctdybMJSHy

- Xavier Bertrand (@xavierbertrand) June 17, 2021

His strategy aims to kill the match against other potential candidates, to win even before the race is on.

All with a clear story-telling: Xavier Bertrand presents himself as the candidate of a social right, concerned about the regal, social justice, but also as a bulwark against the National Rally (RN).

A clear victory at the regional level against the RN, but also against La République en Marche, which sent no less than five minister-candidates to campaign in Hauts-de-France, constitutes for him a key step.

The former minister of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy has also announced that he would retire from political life in the event of defeat.

A low-risk announcement, Xavier Bertrand being given a winner in all polls.

"What I want for Ile-de-France, I obviously also want for the country"

In Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse also declared that a defeat at the regional level would be synonymous with stopping her political life.

And for her too, this promise should not really prevent her from falling asleep since the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy should be re-elected, according to the polls.

>> To read: Regional 2021: with its minister-candidates, The Republic on the march to attack the right

On the other hand, the one who left LR in 2019 - to found the party Let's be free - is careful not to announce her candidacy for the presidential election, even if she declared, on June 4, in Challenges: "What I want for the 'Ile-de-France, I obviously also want it for the country ". Valérie Pécresse therefore affirms that she is focusing on her region, where the scores of the far right are lower than in Hauts-de-France, unlike those of La République en Marche. To be clearly re-elected against the candidate of the presidential party, Laurent Saint-Martin, who can also count on the presence in his list of five minister-candidates, is therefore a necessity: this would allow him to present himself as the best candidate of the right to collect voters who have left since 2017 with Emmanuel Macron.

"With the security shield, the Region has become a co-producer of security. I would like the Region to also become a co-producer of security in judicial matters, thanks to an agreement with the Ministry of Justice" 💬 @vpecresse # WithValériehttps: // t. co / KOZrjrXvdA

- Valérie Pécresse 2021 🚀 (@avecValerie) June 17, 2021

To achieve this, Valérie Pécresse insists on a theme considered by the right as the Achilles heel of the head of state: security.

"I decided that the region, which does not have the security competence, was going to seize it. I decided in 2016, the day after the Bataclan attacks, by signing an agreement with Bernard Cazeneuve which allows the region to be a co-producer of security. And we will go further in the second term. I now want to sign an agreement with the Ministry of Justice because the real blind spot today in security is the sanction. …) If the State does not do it, the region is ready to do it, ”she assured, Sunday, June 13, on BFM TV.

A security budget that goes "from 0 to 160 million euros"

The president of the region promises in particular a transport police, a regional agency for community service, prison places or places in closed educational centers for minors.

>> To read: Regional 2021: Thierry Mariani, the lethal weapon of Marine Le Pen in Paca

Finally, the most discreet is undoubtedly Laurent Wauquiez. Stunned by the low score in right-wing Europeans in 2019 (8.48%) while leading LR, the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region resigned in the wake to devote himself 100% to his local mandate . However, the Elysee remains in the back of his mind. "I'm not going to be a spectator. I'm going to make a commitment," he said on March 27 to the Journal du Dimanche about the next presidential campaign. A clear victory in the regional could put him back on track against his two rivals, especially since he is the only one of the three to still be a member of the Republicans party.

To protect our children against racketeering and harassment, we want to deploy a regional security brigade that will be able to intervene in schools but also install cameras in 100% of our school buses.

# LaRégionAvecToutesSesForces pic.twitter.com/f0g03z1Yrf

- Laurent Wauquiez (@laurentwauquiez) June 9, 2021

Like Valérie Pécresse, he also focuses on security, congratulating himself on having installed 6,000 surveillance cameras in the municipalities, access gates to the entrance to high schools and having developed the railway police thanks to a past budget. since 2015 "from 0 to 160 million euros".

Laurent Wauquiez now wants to go further with even more cameras, especially in school buses, the use of facial recognition and alert boxes for women victims of domestic violence or traders.

Favorite of the polls, his victory in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, like those of Xavier Bertrand in Hauts-de-France and Valérie Pécresse in Ile-de-France, seems assured.

It remains to be seen which of the three will be the best elected and will have the best story to offer to right-wing voters.

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