Alexandre Chauveau, edited by Manon Fossat 7:34 a.m., February 15, 2022

For her first major electoral meeting, Valérie Pécresse was at the Zénith de Paris on Sunday.

During a speech of more than an hour, the candidate tried to gather her troops.

But on the form, the candidate has suffered criticism.

So in the LR ranks we want to quickly turn the page and we are thinking about a new strategy.

"New France" and personal touch: Valérie Pécresse held her first big meeting on Sunday in Paris in front of some 7,500 activists, a very scrutinized meeting while her campaign, pounded by the far right, is struggling to revive.

"We are here, together, to affirm, loud and clear, that New France is coming," assured the LR presidential candidate, promising to bring "new hope" to a "reconciled" France.

Some 6,000 people, mostly from the Paris region, had taken place at the Zénith, and more than a thousand others, according to the organizers, in a neighboring room.

But this meeting did not really convince.

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Consider new formats

The candidate's team meeting Monday at campaign headquarters recognized turbulence, but there is no question of giving up.

Even if the next polls will be scrutinized closely, the right wants to turn the page.

Several tenors of the Republicans relativize a posteriori the impact of the Zenith.

In particular those who lived through François Fillon's campaign five years ago.

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"We have to withstand the shock. That's a presidential election," analyzes a campaign executive.

"We must now insist on its strengths," adds another.

Clearly, his team is thinking about new formats with perhaps a little smaller rooms, shorter speeches and more interaction with the public.

The aim is in particular to promote exchanges with the French and question-and-answer sessions, an exercise that the candidate has better mastered.

And Valérie Pécresse could experience this on Thursday, during a trip to Vendée.

The executive rubs his hands after the Pécresse meeting

Those close to Emmanuel Macron also observed this first major meeting of candidate LR under the magnifying glass.

At the Elysée, it was indeed looked at with irony and mischief.

The executive is rubbing his hands and thinks that this will result in a fall for Valérie Pécresse in the polls.

The majority also hope that this will encourage the departure of elected LRs, both at Emmanuel Macron and at Éric Zemmour, who did not wish to comment.

"I don't care what other people do. I talk to the French," he said Monday, while calling on Republican voters to join him.