Former minister of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr. Estrosi, now rallied to macronism, predicts it: at home, in the Alpes-Maritimes, "a shift will take place" on the right.

While his great local rival and enemy brother Eric Ciotti is beating the campaign for Valérie Pécresse, Mr. Estrosi is helping to make the lands of the south-east a laboratory for the ongoing recomposition, mischievously pointing out that the LR candidate has, she , no meeting held "in the 5th city of France, you realize!".

The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and the former Prime Minister, Edourad Philippe held a meeting in support of Emmanuel Macron on March 23, 2022 in Nice Valery HACHE AFP

Illustration of the maneuvers, the small operation of evangelization with a hundred elected officials from the region who were able to meet in a private room the headliners from Paris ahead of the public meeting: Edouard Philippe, but also the Ministers of Health Olivier Véran and Culture Roselyne Bachelot, or even the boss of LREM deputies Christophe Castaner.

These elected officials "are all in support, some are convinced, others pragmatic but not necessarily passionate", summarizes in a small committee Mr. Estrosi, who joined Horizons, the party of Edouard Philippe which forms the right wing of the majority and intends to weigh to the maximum in the five-year period to come.

"If seeing Edouard Philippe and Christian Estrosi together can seduce LR members who want to leave the party, while keeping the thread and this continuity, it is important to offer them this opportunity", further justifies Mr. Estrosi.

While Ms. Pécresse continues to crumble in the polls, this nibbling work on the ground worries LR.

"We are the party of local elected officials, but beware of the danger: given the situation, there may be a Macron effect which can gradually win," warns a powerful elected official.

At the rostrum of the Nikaia palace, the former juppéiste Edouard Philippe, like the former socialists Olivier Véran and Christophe Castaner, drive the point home to praise the merits of "overcoming" in politics.

"Of course the left and the right exist", underlines the former head of government, evoking, "a heritage", "a topography", "references".

But for him "the lines of cleavage now pass within the right or within the left".

"Yes I was a socialist deputy, we will get rid of things once and for all", jokes Mr. Véran, in turn castigating "the sterile quarrels" between left and right.

"Realistic line"

"What is important is that our program is fair and effective," he says.

By insisting in passing on Emmanuel Macron's proposal to pay social benefits at source, a left-wing marker of a project which has rather sent signals so far to the right-wing electorate, between retirement at 65, tax cuts and conditioning of the RSA.

Leaning on a rather solid base - 70% of his voters in the first round of 2017 would be ready to reiterate, according to a vast Ipsos / Cevipof study - Mr. Macron has continued to triangulate to the right, noting that a third of voters in François Fillon of 2017 now intended to vote for him, according to the same survey.

This inflection sometimes raises questions, such as this minister from the left deploring in half-words that "the realistic line", ie that of the secretary general of the Elysée Alexis Kohler, has "won".

"I think we have to give more breath, more positive. We have to give a little desire to mobilize", he pleads again.

In a video message broadcast in a very wise room in Nice, Mr. Macron also appealed in this direction, fearing that his large lead in the first round polls would turn into a disadvantage.

"Do not listen to those who tell you that it is already played and that everything is acquired. It is the participation and the results of April 10 that count", he hammered, thus urging the militants to "redouble of energy".

© 2022 AFP