Municipal: a second round at the end of June… or two rounds in January 2021

"To govern is to choose," said Pierre Mendès France. It is also, sometimes, knowing how to handle the art of the symbol. It was the intention of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Wednesday, May 20, by inviting in the evening the leaders of political parties to Matignon. More than two hours of face-to-face meeting. The critics were down on the non-concerted decision to maintain the first round, Sunday March 15, while the pandemic of Covid-19 swept the Hexagon? Never mind, the executive has invited the opposition to give the impression of associating it with the choice of the date of the second round, for the 5,000 municipalities (80% of the population) who have not elected their mayor in the first round.

Surprised guest of the meeting: Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the scientific committee which advises the executive in the health crisis, came to present the conclusions of the report delivered on Monday, and to reiterate his non-opposition (but also his caution) regarding to the holding of the second round at the end of June.

Before the meeting started, June 28 seemed to have the favor of the President of the Republic. Since the submission of the report of the scientific council, Emmanuel Macron would have acquired the certainty that it is the decision to take. And his three hours of videoconference with the mayors of big cities, Tuesday, would have reinforced his conviction. It opened on Tuesday evening at the Elysée Palace, during a dinner with several members of the majority. “The president joined us for dinner just after this meeting with the elected officials. He told us that the date of June 28 was unanimous among them, and that it would therefore be very difficult not to choose this option, "said a participant in this dinner attended by, among others, Edouard Philippe, the tenants of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin, as well as the President of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand. Which had publicly declared against an election at the end of June, joined in this Wednesday by about twenty LREM parliamentarians, who wrote to the head of state asking for a postponement of the election by "a few months".

“Macron and Philippe almost topped us for this date, stating that it would be conditioned on the health status of the country at that time. With a progress report fifteen days before the polling date, as the scientists recommend in their report, ”continues the same participant at the dinner.

"Edouard Philippe was very, very careful"

At more than 9 p.m. this Wednesday evening, the party leaders finally leave Matignon. "Edouard Philippe was very, very careful and he said that the decision was not made," says the boss of the Republicans Christian Jacob. He, like a majority of the presidents of the parties present, pleaded for the holding of this vote in a little over a month, provided that the voters as well as the people holding the polling stations benefit from maximum protection (masks and gel).

The government must submit a report to Parliament by this weekend in which it will decide whether the municipal elections will effectively close in a month. If this is not the case, and if they were to be postponed after the summer, the two towers would then be replayed in January 2021. Unthinkable to wage such a heavy campaign in the middle of the new school year, argued the Prime Minister. In October ? It would be impossible to interrupt the session of debates on the budget in parliament, added Philippe.

"Total disagreement" for the rebellious Corbière

"All parties are shared, it is no longer left or right," said Parisian Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the PCF. The elected communist is not opposed to a poll in June, but stresses that the sincerity of the poll also depends on the holding of a campaign in good and due form. The rebellious deputy Alexis Corbières said he was in "total disagreement" with the organization of the poll in June, precisely because it was not possible to campaign normally. Same story for the boss of the UDI Jean-Christophe Lagarde who said Wednesday evening that it was "not sanitary responsible".

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If the executive decides in favor of June 28, it is anyway expected that the parties meet 15 days before the vote, to reassess, in the light of a new opinion of the scientific committee, the possibility of its outfit.