Sponsorships: Jadot invites Le Pen, Zemmour and Mélenchon to question themselves

Europe 1 with AFP 4 p.m., February 23, 2022

The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot invited Marine Le Pen (RN), Eric Zemmour (Reconquête!) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), in difficulty to gather sponsorships for the presidential election, to "perhaps wonder about the way which they do politics", while agreeing that it was necessary "to change the system".

Difficulties in becoming part of "local democracy"

In an interview with the magazine Femme Actuelle, of which AFP was able to see an extract, the environmental candidate, who since Tuesday has 565 signatures from elected officials, considers "that the important candidates in this presidential election must be able to present themselves, otherwise we will be a problem of democracy".

"Should Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour and Jean-Luc Mélenchon be able to participate in the presidential election? My answer is yes. Should the system be changed? Probably," he explains.

"But why are these three candidates, who weigh in the presidential election, who do not have their sponsorship?" He asks.

"Because they may also be candidates who find it difficult to fit into local democracy, who are not fighting to have local elected representatives, and who basically do not have this support in the territories of the women and men who make politics on a daily basis", he analyzes.

"And maybe they should also question the way they do politics," he continues.

Asked whether he called on elected officials, as Prime Minister Jean Castex requested, to sponsor these three candidates, he clearly answered "no".

"I'm not sitting on a mattress of sponsorships"

“All the elected environmentalists have sponsored me. I have been preparing this campaign for a year. We went elsewhere to seek other sponsorships,” he explains.

"So I am not, as François Bayrou says, sitting on a mattress of sponsorships that I can distribute according to my wishes", he added, in reference to the president of the MoDem François Bayrou, who claimed Tuesday a reserve of 180 elected officials ready to endorse the main candidates in difficulty to obtain the 500 sponsorships.