Municipal: why there will be no LREM candidate in Corsica

It is a Corsican specificity. The Isle of Beauty is the only region to have no candidate invested or even supported by La République en Marche (LREM) in municipal elections, as confirmed by the party's National Investiture Commission (CNI) last Wednesday.

On its site, LREM proudly displays the hundreds of candidates it has already invested or that it supports for the ballot on March 15 and 22, region by region. But no trace of Corsica, the only community among the thirteen that counts the country which is in this case.

"They are afraid that it will rob some candidates"

According to our information, confirming what France 3 indicated on Sunday, the decision to stand back from Corsica was taken during an informal CNI meeting in Paris last Wednesday. Four Corsican elected members affiliated to LREM had specially made the trip, including Jean-Charles Orsucci, mayor of Bonifacio and who is running for office. According to a CNI member, these elected officials have expressed their wish not to be labeled LREM, and no other candidate on the island has requested it. "They often have on their list people from many currents, including nationalists, and they are afraid that it will point some of them," slips the Parisian official, who wishes to remain anonymous.

"Like everywhere, we are a young movement in the process of structuring," minimizes Jean-Charles Orsucci, who does not "deny" his belonging to the majority. The elected representative had himself led the list of LREM Andà per Dumane in December 2017, during the territorial elections in Corsica. But, this time, "the question of the investitures or the supports did not arise, because nobody made a request in this direction", still sweeps Jean-Charles Orsucci, what he therefore went to justify to the national commission party.

It is true that Emmanuel Macron and his party have never achieved very high scores on the island. The head of state obtained "only" 18.48% of the votes in the first round of the 2017 presidential election, and he was very little in the lead in the second round (51.48% against 48.52% for Marine Le Pen). But he still aroused some interest on the spot, especially during his campaign meeting in Furiani, on April 7, 2017.

Tense relations between the executive and the nationalists

However, since then, relations between the executive and certain local elected representatives have been strained. Building on their success in December 2017, nationalist officials notably demanded the inclusion of Corsica in the constitution or official recognition of their language, to which the government did not act. On April 4, 2019, they called for a “dead island” day when the Head of State came to Cozzano (Corse-du-Sud) to participate in a meeting of the Great Debate, which they also had decided to boycott. "The arrival of President Macron must imperatively be the occasion to announce a new state policy in Corsica, breaking with the attitude of democratic denial adopted until today by Paris", had asserted the Femu party in Corsica. During the exchange with other elected officials, the head of state regretted not having heard "regrets" about the assassination of the prefect Erignac.

A few weeks later, at the European elections on May 26, the majority list barely exceeded 15%, far behind that of the National Rally (27.73%). In short, for the municipal elections next March, "the local climate is not conducive to showing off with an LREM label", continues our member of the national investiture committee.

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Despite its significant scores obtained on the island, the National Rally did not invest in municipal candidates either, due to the lack of local executives. In the previous election in 2014, a single RN candidate was in the running in Ajaccio, but he only obtained 8.3% of the vote.