Presidential: Macron is looking for a window to declare himself, fears of evaded debates

Emmanuel Macron is still looking for a window of opportunity to formalize his candidacy before the Friday deadline, his opponents fearing for their part that the international situation will evade the necessary national presidential debates.

Ukraine will be discussed in the afternoon with a debate in the National Assembly and another in the Senate, preceded by a government statement.

Never under the Fifth Republic has an international crisis had such an impact on a presidential campaign at the risk of eclipsing other subjects of concern to the French, such as purchasing power, health or safety.

At the beginning of February, President Macron, given a big favorite in the polls, had indicated that he was waiting for "the acute phase of the epidemic (of Covid) and the peak of the geopolitical crisis" in Ukraine to be exceeded before declaring himself a candidate.

This is done for the health situation.

For the Head of State, time is running out.

The quasi-candidate must, like the other contenders, provide the Constitutional Council before Friday 6:00 p.m., in addition to the more than 500 endorsements of validated elected officials, a declaration of assets and a letter indicating his consent to be a candidate.

And in the meantime, his opponents are almost forced to "box in a vacuum".

"Omission of democratic debate"

"We have to be careful, we are now five and a half weeks from the deadline for the first round, if there is no debate, if there is no assessment, no project, imagine the President of the Republic re-elected, then it will be in a form of omission of democratic debate, with a risk" on the "legitimacy during the mandate", warned the President LR of the Senate Gérard Larcher on Europe 1.

"I really demand that there be a debate, all minds are in this war, but we must also plan the future of the country for the next five years," he insisted.

LR presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse during a major oral on health on March 1, 2022 in Paris Sameer Al-DOUMY AFP

For Mr. Larcher, the LR candidate Valérie Pécresse "is the only one who can challenge Emmanuel Macron" because, according to him, Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen, "pro-Putin candidates, cannot today hope to be in the second round".

In several recent polls, the right-wing candidate has however fallen significantly, falling behind her far-right rivals, or even behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI).

On the left too, there is concern about a campaign frozen by the Ukrainian crisis.

The presidential debate must not be "anesthetized" because "this is the moment when we have to talk about politics" and "the moment or never to say: another world is possible, another vision of the world, to other international relations", insisted on RFI Alexis Corbière, spokesperson for LFI candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

According to him, Macron "will no doubt declare himself a candidate in a fairly sober way, he is almost obliged to do so".

The first campaign meeting of candidate Macron, initially scheduled for Saturday in Marseille, has also been canceled.

Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour during a meeting on the situation in Ukraine organized at Matignon by Prime Minister Jean Castex for presidential candidates, February 28, 2022 in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN POOL / AFP

The Head of State could formalize his candidacy during an intervention in a television news, like François Mitterrand in 1988 at 33 days from the first round or Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 at 67 days from the ballot.

Campaign "as normally as possible"

Faced with these concerns, the executive wants to be reassuring.

"I will do everything possible to ensure that the campaign takes place as normally as possible," Prime Minister Jean Castex insisted on Monday.

In the entourage of the head of government, it is emphasized that "the current situation does not prevent us from talking about all the topics that interest the French, whether it is about purchasing power, Europe, of energy, of sovereignty".

And Tuesday morning, four candidates - Valérie Pécresse, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, the ecologist Yannick Jadot and the communist Fabien Roussel - took part in a "grand oral" devoted to health and organized by the French Mutuality.

The environmental candidate for the presidential Yannick Jadot during the great oral health, March 1, 2022 in Paris Sameer Al-DOUMY AFP

On the sponsorship side, the Constitutional Council will publish around 5:00 p.m. a new updated list of qualified candidates for the race for the Elysée.

Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen remained for the moment below the fateful bar of 500 signatures, but they were approaching it: the ex-far-right polemicist had 415 at the last score of Thursday. And the candidate RN had 414. The sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan was also close to the goal with 457 signatures on the counter.

But others are still very far from it like François Asselineau (247), the NPA Philippe Poutou (243), the trade unionist Annasse Kazib (130), the ex-Keeper of the Seals Christiane Taubira (128) and the animalist Hélène Thouy (97).

© 2022 AFP