Gauthier Delomez 5:47 p.m., April 08, 2022
Josette Marchais, an 87-year-old retiree, parachuted for the first time in her life to support Republican candidate Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election.
"If I succeeded (the jump), she will succeed too," said the octogenarian, who had already struck up a friendship with the candidate.
Get high to support your presidential candidate.
This is the unusual challenge launched by Josette Marchais, an 87-year-old retiree in the Lot, who parachuted this week for the first time in her life.
"I'm doing it for Valérie Pécresse. The presidential election is the perfect time to do it," she told
La Dépêche du Midi
, which traces the retiree's feat.
With her adopted son, Josette, dressed in a t-shirt in the colors of her candidate, shows no sign of apprehension before setting off with her tandem for the big jump.
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Back on solid ground, Josette Marchais confides that she was "on a little cloud".
"It was amazing," she adds.
Blue-white-red smoke bombs were then triggered above the Cahors aerodrome, where the retiree made her first parachute jump.
"Valérie president!", Launches Josette a few minutes after landing.
A friendship between the two women since 2002
It is no coincidence that the 87-year-old retiree will vote for the current president of the Île-de-France region in the first round.
The two women met in 2002 in Paris.
Josette Marchais affirms that she had already supported Valérie Pécresse, "the little one" as she calls her, during her first legislative elections.
Since then, a friendship has been born between the two women.
And if the polls are not favorable to candidate LR, Josette believes in her chances: "If I succeeded (the jump), she will succeed too".
The retiree picks up flowers before leaving the airfield.
"I'm going to dry them and give them to the little one, it will be our lucky charm," says Josette.