“It's called the
chicken game
: two racing drivers rush towards each other at full speed.
The first to turn the steering wheel to avoid a collision is lost.
The most determined wins.
But if both are so until the end, it is the insured accident.
"This is how the deputy (LR) Julien Aubert describes the candidacy for the presidential election of Xavier Bertrand, formalized Wednesday in" the Point ".
In short: can the president of Hauts-de-France win in a party whose door he slammed at the end of 2017?
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Xavier Bertrand, the target
Thursday, rare were the leaders of LR to have reacted positively to this announcement.
There is Guillaume Peltier, the number 2 of the party, who says he has read "carefully" his "courageous statement" and the boss of deputies, Damien Abad, who relayed the interview on social networks.
"Anything that can kill the primary is good news"
For others, it's radio silence.
"The standard has not exploded," observes the President of the Republicans, Christian Jacob, who sticks to his original schedule: to let the regional ones pass without talking about the presidential election.
"If Xavier Bertrand is a natural candidate, we will see this fall," he tempers, remembering that Jacques Chirac in 1994 like Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006 had only declared themselves in November.
"To be a natural candidate is to be in a position to reach the second round in the polls but also the ability to bring together", cautiously recalls Christian Jacob who, however, makes no secret of his desire to bring out a candidate, without organize primaries, still provided for in the LR statutes.
“Anything that can kill the primary is good news.
But I'm not sure I understand Xavier Bertrand's schedule.
We do not impose ourselves by doing four pages of interview in
the Point
, abounds the secretary general of LR, Aurélien Pradié, who warns: "The determination should not be impatience.
He must first pick up the pieces with his political family.
It is not yet won.
“In the midst of a pandemic, he talks about his candidacy: who is this guy?
Angered a party figure.
Not to mention that the supporters of the primary do not seem inclined to forfeit.
"As soon as there will be several candidates, it is necessary to vote", reacted the boss of senators LR, Bruno Retailleau, on Sud Radio.
“The ones and the others are called.
A class action is being prepared ”, understands a parliamentarian.
As for the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, his entourage let it be known that he continues to work on a tie-breaking system.
“If Bertrand wins in September, we'll all be behind him.
If not, our system will be ready.
»« Xavier Bertrand is moving forward.
He has a vision, a project.
The others do not have the beginning of the beginning of the project.
He knows where he wants to go and how.
We have entered into something else, ”replies a lieutenant from Picard.
The chicken game has only just begun.
