Municipal: virtual or hidden, a funny campaign starts for the candidates

This year, an additional line will appear on the campaign accounts of candidates for municipal elections: "Masks, hydroalcoholic gel and gloves". The pre-second round period of June 28, officially launched on Monday, is unlike any other due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the programs have been updated and adapted to the health crisis, the way of campaigning has evolved. Door-to-door and towing sessions have been reinvented while respecting barrier gestures and sanitary measures, as several candidates tell us. "We can neither approach nor embrace people, it's quite frustrating", summarizes Philippe Saurel, mayor of Montpellier (Hérault) vying for his re-election.

"It might scare people"

“We had to be creative,” points out Anne Le Gagne, centrist candidate in Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine). "We wanted to stay very present on the ground to meet people, but in a different way," she adds. “Urban walks” on the beach or in the city were organized, with a mask on the face, legal physical distance, and hydroalcoholic gel in the bag.

Unsurprisingly, this development can be seen in the activity of the company DigitaleBox, which helps candidates to better target voters. Usually, these are then visited by activists or are contacted by email or SMS. “We work like a razor with several blades but that of door-to-door is often put aside because the configurations do not lend themselves to it. In a building with a narrow staircase, for example, it's complicated, ”says the founder of the start-up, Vincent Moncenis, who supports“ around forty ”candidates for the second round.

At first, Sonia Krimi had also decided not to ring the doors of apartments and houses. And then, the health situation improved. "Suddenly, we decided to do it but staying far away, with masks and gloves, even if it might scare people," said MP LREM, candidate in Cherbourg (Manche). In the XVII arrondissement of Paris, "there is less aggressiveness than a month ago, handing out leaflets seems to have been accepted for the past eight days," said Geoffroy Boulard, the candidate for the Republicans. He too, with his running mate and activists, always "tries" to wear a mask at each outing, then relayed on social networks.

Facebook Live for everyone

Unsurprisingly, the use of digital tools exploded during this campaign. Not a candidate in a small or big city - or almost - without their Facebook Live, sort of 2020 equivalent of the "apartment meeting". Anne Le Gagne plans five, an hour and a half each, by the second round. "They are targeted on the themes of the program, with five to six speakers who come to enlighten us each time," she said. 2,000 or 3,000 Internet users watch it each time, live or in replay.

"Since the first round (March 15), people tell us: we followed you during the confinement on social networks", retains for his part Geoffroy Boulard, also a follower of weekly Facebook Live. Without distributing as many documents on the street as usual, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms are also used to relay leaflets in digital format.

🗳️ On # June 28, you will vote to elect your new mayor. In the first round, many voters did not move. On the 28th, go and vote safely, because all the health provisions will be taken. # UnisPourLaBauleEscoublac #Municipales #RestezPrudents # COVID__19 pic.twitter.com/h1Q6uZ3HSU

On June 8, Jean-Yves Gontier (LREM, joined to LR), in the running at La Baule (Loire-Atlantique), already held a first "e-meeting" broadcast on his YouTube channel. "But digital technology has its limits, especially in a city like ours where half the population is over 60 years old," said the candidate, who hopes to organize a public meeting in face-to-face on June 25. "We will put all the health protection devices necessary to reassure the public," he said.

Local press and mailboxes

Because the risk would be to leave on the floor the oldest or most vulnerable populations, who often do not leave their homes much. And who, of course, do not have access to digital tools. "With digital, it is possible to enter all connected homes without any physical contact, but still the campaign website or the candidate's Facebook page must be visited by the voter or the email which is addressed or open, ”points Anaïs Theviot, lecturer in political science at the Catholic University of the West, in a forum published on The Conversation website.

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However, our elders form the battalion that mobilizes the most at the polls in normal times and, in many municipalities, the one that voted the least in the first round. Then, the candidates bring out the older techniques, such as speaking in the local press or the traditional mail. "We are going to release a new leaflet which will be distributed in all mailboxes. With that, we are sure to reach everyone, ”judges Francis Gonzalez, who hopes to be re-elected in Boucau. What if we made the best soup in the old pots?

PODCAST. Hidalgo, Dati, Buzyn ... Paris is unconvinced, and so is the municipal campaign