Silence. On his Twitter thread, Laurent Wauquiez does not mention the agreement announced Thursday May 28 between Gérard Collomb (LREM) which renounces to run for the metropolis of Lyon (Rhône), in favor of Senator LR François-Noël Buffet. On the other hand, he highlighted a video which reminds how committed the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is to the fight against Covid-19: protection kits for health personnel, recovery plan economy of 750 million euros or even a "mask per capita" operation. A communication, abundantly relayed with sponsored advertisements on Facebook. And in line with the line he has set for himself since he hastily left the presidency of LR after the European debacle: to be fully committed to the controls of a region which has almost as many inhabitants as Switzerland.
A strategy similar to that of his rivals, the ex-LR Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, and Xavier Bertrand, boss of Hauts-de-France, with the additional particularity that he no longer comments publicly on the national news. A media ascetic necessary to change his public image which he knows to be disastrous. “Nationally, he was seen as an actor in the political game. Which does not give a lot of fuel at the moment, ”underlines his entourage.
Intuition seems good: the health crisis has sounded the hour for local executives - whether mayors or presidents of regions - much more than that of political parties. And Laurent Wauquiez, who has lost none of his presidential ambitions, knows that he must absolutely win the region in 2021. "One hedge after another," summarizes the deputy LR Dino Cinieri, close to him.
"Wauquiez returns to the center of the game"
To believe Wauquiez's entourage, the agreement between LR and Gérard Collomb on Thursday would in any case have no connection and would be strictly local. "This is not the dress rehearsal for regional," slips a relative, who ensures that there will be no agreement between LR and LREM, neither in the first nor in the second round of regional. The president of the region, who met with the mayor of Lyon on Wednesday, would only have accompanied older "contacts" between candidates. A version that does not fail to make people smile on the spot. "Of course this is the start of the regional sequence," contradicts an elected LR from the department. Wauquiez is afraid of the Greens (Editor's note: arrived in the lead in the first round of the municipal elections in Lyon and its metropolitan area on March 15 and who already run Grenoble) . And he knows that it is not the results in Cantal that will save him the region… ”
"The Lyon metropolis, this represents 20% of the electorate of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes", abounds Jean-François Debat, the leader of the PS opposition to the region. "Wauquiez tries to be more consensual and returns to the center of the game with the right-wing electorate by sending the message that the best placed to keep the region is him," analyzes the socialist. He who is also mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) is also surprised that the only municipal councilor LREM voted in favor of Aurane Reihanian, a friend of Wauquiez, during his installation.
So many signs of a refocusing by Laurent Wauquiez? "The Wauquiez brand is not the same regionally as nationally," recalls those around the president of the region. Which will focus on regional foremost on defending its "good management" and its dynamism. Still on the right, the LR-Collomb agreement cringes. "For me, Wauquiez, it is the uninhibited right and the guy merges with LREM!, Indignant a regional LR framework. What message are we sending to voters other than saving our seats? Wauquiez is decidedly sincere only on one thing: everything for my face! "