The meetings follow one another and the veil is gradually lifting on the strategy of La République en Marche (LREM) in the regional elections of 2021. Unfavorable polls and the recent defection of Jean-Michel Blanquer adding to the bitter memory of the municipal elections, this is not the time for great illusions.
“Gain a region?
Nobody believes it ”, slice an executive of LREM.
However, the party's boss, Stanislas Guerini, protested that we suspected En Marche!
to want to "step over" this ballot: "It would be to disappear in the election, wall color, what La France insoumise does.
It won't be our case, it wouldn't make sense.
The presidential majority will be present in all regions in its own right or as part of an official alliance.
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Represented by which faces?
We will have to wait for the declarations of candidatures, which will be done region by region.
But after a slow process, the presidential party should finally have appointed its leaders by the end of this week.
Not all will necessarily be the future headliners of the presidential majority, a common banner of LREM, Modem, and Agir for this election.
However, this is a first step.
The questions should therefore be lifted this Thursday and Friday in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Hauts-de-France, where the names of LREM deputy Bruno Bonnell and of the Secretary of State in charge of Pensions, Laurent Pietraszewski respectively come back.
Christophe Castaner in Paca?
Another thorny case about to be resolved: Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur.
The picture is less clear there.
If the Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal has expressed his interest, behind the scenes, some are pushing the president of the LREM group in the Assembly, Christophe Castaner.
“Some are asking him to potentially be at the top of the list.
He has experience, political weight, he knows the region by heart ”, confides a Walker.
Motus, for the moment, on the side of the person concerned, who spontaneously rather tended to plead for an agreement with the outgoing LR president, Renaud Muselier.
The two men know each other well.
Above all, the question of the “RN dam” arises in this region.
A crucial parameter for Castaner - then a PS candidate, he had withdrawn from the second round five years ago.
It is still necessary that an alliance be possible… "The games are open", summarizes a party executive.
Beyond these questions of people, how to approach this election without the hope of winning a region?
The discussions of the last strategic meeting of the party provide the beginning of an answer.
"The regional must be a trial run of the 2022 campaign, a technical training," says a leader of LREM.
Laying the foundations of the Common House
“These regions are also an opportunity to prepare for this.
This makes it possible to lay the foundations of the Common House (
Editor's note: with the Modem and Agir
), to push political angles, on the recovery plan, young people or Europe.
And this is a great repetition of what the 2022 campaign will be in terms of militant structuring, ”says Stanislas Guerini for his part.
Observing that Joe Biden's campaign (under Covid) in the United States was partly played out on the WhatsApp application and by SMS, the Walkers also see the opportunity to expand the database (and contact details) sympathizers.
Or how to take advantage of a campaign that promises to be as special as it is difficult.