"We hesitate between her, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour", explains Tristan, 31, who came to get an opinion with a comrade.

What struck him the most in the speech of presidential candidate LR was perhaps "what relates to immigration", he explains before the meeting.

What is he waiting for?

"We would like firmness, perhaps a little more charismatic", he adds, regretting: "It lacks a little something".

Arriving to the applause of some 500 spectators with small tricolor flags, the candidate swept aside the main themes of her campaign, castigating the "immobility" of Emmanuel Macron and the "extremism" of Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen. "I'm going to need you to trace a third voice, alternation, France in large," she launched at the end of her speech of about an hour.

"She is gaining momentum. Before, we saw less of the personal aspect, she is gaining confidence," said Georges, a 74-year-old former local elected official, already convinced by "the best candidate at present".

He was especially marked by his idea of ​​​​"restore order" - what Valérie Pécresse intends to do "in the accounts and in the street", as she has repeated several times.

Pierrick, 56, the "competent" judge even if "not particularly close", and arrives with a favorable a priori: "I believe in women, their sensitivity and their intelligence".

Electoral rally of the LR candidate for the French presidential election Valérie Pécresse in Oyonnax, in Ain, on January 28, 2022 JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP

Some of the spectators also arrive convinced, such as Christelle, 47, who is full of praise for Valérie Pécresse's experience as minister, and praises "her proposals on security, education and the agricultural world" .

But "she should be more dynamic, the others are aggressive, they break the sugar on her back, we should react", she assures.

"Beautiful neighborhoods"

"There are a lot of people who doubt. For me Pécresse is a bit like Fillon in copy," said Jean-Claude, 70, who hesitates "between her and Macron".

He would like "that she have a personal speech" and regrets: "She has just changed her proposal on salaries, it gives the impression of going back. Who understands something?", Alluding to the fact that the candidate is working again the terms of his proposal for a 10% increase in wages to 2.2 Smic.

In this "a little dead" campaign, the retiree believes that "the dice are cast for her, she may be in the second round, but no more".

"Xavier Bertrand had more chances. He was more convincing," he says.

French presidential candidate LR Valérie Pécresse (c) arrives at her electoral meeting in Oyonnax, in Ain, on January 28, 2022 JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP

"Here we are a rural sector and we see that she is not comfortable" on the subject, assures Jacques, 62, who came with his son to listen to the president of the Ile-de-France region.

"She is brave, but sometimes it sounds wrong, she looks unnatural, a little stuck, we see that it's worked," he adds, adding: "we see that she comes from the beautiful neighborhoods".

If he finds it difficult to quote a flagship measure in his speech, he assures that "his shift to the right has marked. The big subject of the French is still security".

The candidate is also very applauded, in her speech, during her numerous outings on immigration and security.

And if he has not yet chosen who he is going to vote for on April 10, Jacques assures him: "Zemmour is very good, he comes out with subjects that we think of, he is comfortable. It's a bit what he lacks" to Valérie Pécresse.

© 2022 AFP