The leap into the unknown. Sunday morning, a completely new ballot in the history of the Fifth Republic opens with the municipal elections. As the coronavirus epidemic accelerates, voters are still called to the polls to choose their mayors for the next six years. Tempted to postpone the vote in the face of the threat, Emmanuel Macron finally decided to maintain it despite the warnings of the scientific authorities. The President of the Republic announced this Thursday evening during an address followed live by 25 million people, an absolute record for a presidential intervention.
His Prime Minister confirmed it on TF1 on Friday by observing, after having watched a report on the supermarkets taken by storm, that there was no more risk to go to a polling station than to wait in a queue at the checkout. " If we made this decision, it was by listening to the scientists and we are convinced that we can organize the first and second round in good conditions ," said Edouard Philippe. We must not steal the French decision . ” Provided they come to vote.
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The coronavirus epidemic, the anxiety it causes and its consequences on the daily life of the country raise doubts about the participation of voters in the ballot. If Emmanuel Macron's speech was praised by the entire political class for its conduct, with the exception of the National Rally, it above all delivered a number of anxiety-provoking measures. Nurseries, schools and universities closed. Fragile and elderly people called to not leave their homes and to avoid contact. Limitation of trips to what is strictly necessary ...
The President of the Republic was determined on "strong measures". However, he had not said everything. Friday, Edouard Philippe added by announcing the ban on gatherings of more than a hundred people throughout the territory and not excluding the possibility of Italian confinement. Not necessarily likely to encourage voters to go to their polling station on Sunday. What to weigh all the uncertainties on the results of an election hitherto announced devastating for The Republic on the move.
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Second electoral hedge of the quinquennium, the municipal elections are a new test for Emmanuel Macron. He had succeeded that of the Europeans by arriving just behind Marine Le Pen. An unexpected result after the "yellow vests" crisis. This time, the deal is different. The ballot is no longer national but multilocal and the logics of alliances vary from one city to another.
If LREM has for a time hoped to be able to display symbolic victories, in particular in Paris and Lyon, the party has now resigned itself to a goal clearly more at hand. " We still have the objective of quadrupling the number of local elected representatives ," explains a close friend of Emmanuel Macron. The highlight of these elections will not be the number of cities we could win but the number of new LREM elected officials who will appear in local executives . ” This is the stake of the implantation.
After the municipal elections, we can no longer say that LREM is a party without local support
The campaign teamA young movement born in 2016 to support Emmanuel Macron in his conquest of the Élysée Palace, the party of the president has no elected representative past the voters with the LREM label. Its only troops in the local executives are made up of defectors from the PS or the Republicans. With these municipal elections, it will be the first time that the President's troops will officially appear before the voters as "macronists". " We have no leavers ," recalls a member of the inner circle of the head of state. Any progress is good to take . ”
It is besides a reproach regularly addressed to the troops of the president that of not benefiting from relays on the ground as may have from older parties such as the PS or LR. " After the municipal elections, we will no longer be able to say that LREM is a party without local support, " said the campaign team.
Read also: On the evening of the first round of municipal elections, results to be handled with care
The presentation is skillful. Starting from scratch, Emmanuel Macron can only come out victorious in the municipal election, even if he obtains only one elected representative. This is to forget the many dissident candidacies that have appeared all over France, starting with Paris with Cédric Villani. They draw a dividing line within LREM between those who on the one hand play the party game and agree to side behind decisions they sometimes disapprove of and those who, on the other, claim to be macronist original pure and perfect. A fracture that is found in some voters of Emmanuel Macron disappointed with the directions taken by the President of the Republic in the course of his mandate.
With his crisis speech on the coronavirus, the head of state has, however, returned to the accents that enabled him to seduce in 2017. What influence the results of the election in his favor? The veil cast by the epidemic weighs too heavy to judge. It will be partially lifted Sunday evening.