"As soon as the 100 km rule is lifted, Edouard Philippe will resume the road to Le Havre," jokes the deputy Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo, a close friend of the Prime Minister who succeeded him in the Assembly. By fixing the second round of the elections for June 28, the head of government also sounded the resumption of his municipal campaign in the port city which he led from 2010 to 2017… For now, all his task of managing the second phase of deconfinement, he remains discreet on the subject. "He will be talking about the second round in Le Havres soon", one evades Matignon.
Édouard Philippe knows he is eagerly awaited after a mixed first round, he who was elected in the first round in 2014. Admittedly, the head of government came out on top on March 15 with 43.6% of the vote. But his voice reserves are thin while his opponent in the second round, the Communist deputy (supported by La France insoumise) Jean-Paul Lecoq reaped the nice score of 35.87% and still hopes for a merger with the EELV / PS list. , third at 8.3%. In short, the re-election of Edouard Philippe is not acquired in a city sociologically on the left. However, his future in Matignon depends on it. Not to mention that keeping his fief would be very useful for the rest of his national destiny.
"The crisis has changed the context"
Put under the snuffer for two months, the campaign begins to liven up the discussions. Like these two sisters who are bickering gently on the Southampton quay under the monumental container sculpture. "Edouard Philippe? Of course I would like him to continue, breathes Christiane, 74 years old. He revitalized the city by continuing the work of Antoine Rufenacht ( Editor's note: mayor from 1995 to 2010 ). 30 years ago, Le Havre was sad, nobody came, now we have tourists. But Marie-Pierre, ten years younger, did not digest her departure for Matignon. "He let us go: let him stay in Paris," she tackles.
Before the first round, Edouard Philippe experienced a rowdy campaign, in the midst of social unrest. Sitting in the former office of Edouard Philippe at the Hôtel de Ville, his successor (LR) Jean-Baptiste Gastinne ensures that the climate is different. “The crisis changed the context and I am not sure that it made things more difficult for Édouard Philippe. At Matignon, he held the bar in bad weather and maintained a course: that of the general interest. The French have discovered its qualities ... but the people of Le Havre already knew them. Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo abounds. “On March 15, we were in pension reform, 49-3. But it is far now: the people of Le Havre are not in the same state of mind. "
Nationalization of the issue
On the beach promenade, where the swarming bathers return in numbers, the Communist deputy Jean-Paul Lecoq sweeps away the optimism displayed by the Philippine camp. "I think he is very worried. Perhaps it was not very serious for a Prime Minister to run as head of the list when the country is going through a serious crisis. These are the limits of the famous at the same time. "
Paragliding enthusiast, Lecoq predicts favorable winds for his list made up of two thirds of citizens. “I don't spit in the soup: Le Havre has gotten better in recent years. But I want to invent the life that goes with it, as the ad says. The right runs the city like a business. I want to change the lives of the people of Le Havre, involve them more, put the ecology center, public services, local shops back in the center… ”His new support, PS Havre municipal councilor Matthieu Brasse, is less reluctant to nationalize the issue . "If in his own city, Edouard Philippe was beaten, the people of Le Havre would send a clear message to the President of the Republic: his policy is not the right one," he insists.
The argument hits home with David, a 29-year-old psychiatric nurse, who will vote more "against Philippe" than for Lecoq. "I can't understand why the Prime Minister's rib is going up," he said. He managed to forget his authoritarian and ultra-liberal policy. But the ocean city also has a base of followers of the Prime Minister. "It is a lover of Le Havre who knew how to perceive the full potential of the city and transform it: today we are proud to be Le Havre", praises Françoise, 52 years old. A fan who would even forgive him for a temporary return: "He is young and he has ideas, I will not be surprised that he has a bright future. "
On the ambitions of Edouard Philippe, his relatives kick in touch. Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo reiterates that the Prime Minister is a stranger to the parliamentary group that she formed on Tuesday alongside 16 deputies Agir and LREM. "The label of philippist suits me but this group was in no way created for him," says the member for Le Havre. Socialist Matthieu Brasse can hardly believe it. "I know Édouard Philippe a little and I have always said that he was aiming for the highest positions," confides the elected official. He has to be smart and patient. I don't see him preparing for the next presidential election ... but maybe the next. And for that, he needs Le Havre, he needs his stronghold. "