"We are in 2021, we are not in 1788. And let us not forget that afterwards, there is 1789." These words, sharp as a guillotine blade, are those that Olivier Paccaud, Senator of the Oise but above all a traveling companion and loyal collaborator of Olivier Dassault, employs when he comments on the candidacy for the 1st constituency of the Oise of Victor Habert, nephew of the deputy (LR) tragically died on March 7 in a helicopter crash.
To everyone's surprise, and in disconcerting timing, the young man of 28 indeed announces that he wants to take up the torch and ensure that after his great-grandfather, Marcel Dassault (1958-1986), and his uncle ( 1988-1997 then 2002-2021), the 1st district remains in the family.
We also hastened to add the surname Dassault to insist on the filiation with the deceased.
The nomination committee of the Republicans party unanimously validated this candidacy on Wednesday, while no one knows when this partial legislative assembly will be scheduled, or even if it will take place.
"This premature and surprising decision as long as the election is not fixed"
Why such a rush, validated by the party and orchestrated by the deputy's widow, if not to pull the rug out from under potential candidates?
Starting with the natural heir, Olivier Paccaud.
"Yet I was not a candidate," he recalls.
Touched by the testimonies received, the senator wanted "to give himself time for reflection and that of mourning, necessary, to let his tears dry."
Olivier Dassault was deputy for the 1st constituency of Oise from 1988 to 1997 then from 2002 to 2021. LP / Frédéric Dugit
The political time is quite different because a week after the funeral of the deputy, the succession began to arouse the first desires.
"It was indecent, I do not want to be caught in this unhealthy maelstrom", regrets Olivier Paccaud regretting this Wednesday that the LR party took "this premature and surprising decision as long as the election is not fixed".
"Isn't a little experience useful when you pretend to serve a territory?"
When the hypothesis of the candidacy of Victor Habert took shape, the senator accompanied him to Breteuil, at Jean Cauwel, the mayor (LR) who could have claimed the deputation.
“I naively thought I would convince him to become his deputy,” he explains.
It was his interest and especially that of the inhabitants of the Oise, that we forget in this announced coronation.
Isn't a little experience useful when you pretend to serve a territory?
"
Can nepotism still be topical in the Oise in 2021?
In any case, it is risky.
In 2017, Alexis Mancel, the last to have tried the coup by appearing in the legislative elections on the 2nd constituency left by his father, Jean-François, did not even cross the 1st round.
“And again, Alexis grew up in the Oise and was a regional advisor, nuance Olivier Paccaud.
In 20 years of presence alongside Olivier Dassault, I have never seen Victor Habert in the Oise!
"
"I was made to understand that we could not refuse anything to the Dassault family"
Olivier Paccaud had an interview on this subject with Christian Jacob, president of the party, and Eric Ciotti, head of the national investiture commission.
“I told them about the previous Mancel, I told them that this solution was anachronistic and risky.
I was made to understand that we could not refuse anything to the Dassault family.
"
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For the senator, the parallel with the political arrival of Olivier Dassault in 1988 is not tenable either.
"Olivier had long accompanied Marcel Dassault in the Oise", he underlines.
And to tell the advice given by the grandfather to his grandson: “First become a municipal councilor to learn.
"" What he did by being elected in Paris, recalls Olivier Paccaud.
Victor Habert has no political experience.
"
"No consultation with the elected representatives of the territory has really been initiated"
In the Oise, this surprise candidacy is far from unanimous, even (or especially?) Among Les Républicains.
Nadège Lefebvre, president of the department, admits to being "very surprised by this succession already on the agenda".
For her, this is a "premature and hasty" decision.
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"Hurried, because it comes only two weeks after the funeral, while the Oise is still in shock at this disappearance," she says.
Rushed because no by-election date has yet been set.
Rushed because no consultation with elected officials of the territory was really initiated.
I think it was urgent to wait!
"
Eric Woerth "convinced" that elected officials will fall into line
Jean Cauwel regrets that his party "did not consult the elected representatives of the territory" before letting go: "When you do not know the terrain, it's complicated, even for a Dassault.
"Only Eric Woerth is more measured.
“This is not a riding like the others, we do not wipe out 60 years of Dassault with a stroke of the pen.
"Optimistic, he is" convinced that the LR of the department will line up behind Victor Habert.
"
This seems to be the case with Frans Desmedt, the mayor (LR) of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée, author of an invitation to accompany the young candidate, this Friday, during a company visit.
Solicited, Victor Habert preferred to wait to answer our questions: “I have to see my campaign manager.
"
"It will be hard for his nephew to be up to the task"
On the voters' side, the feeling is nuanced.
Benjamin, a resident, speaks of an “elective monarchy” where “electoral fiefdoms are still handed down from generation to generation.
Some people think that politics is a family property that you inherit!
"
Among the partisans, the possible arrival of a Dassault rejoices those who, like Christian, an inhabitant of Achy, "hopes that the nephew will be as generous as his uncle with the rural communes".
“The Dassault have always been patrons but Olivier had been able to keep it simple, complete Alain, from Marseille-en-Beauvaisis.
It will be hard for his nephew to measure up.
The baby Dassault was Olivier Paccaud.
"