Some predicted elections without interest or passion.
But it was enough that the hypothesis of a new postponement of regional and departmental is evoked for the subject to ignite the debates.
The reason ?
The famous letter sent Friday evening to the prefects, in all haste, to collect the opinion of the 36,000 mayors on whether or not to maintain these deadlines scheduled for June.
Initiative blown by Emmanuel Macron, with co-piloting of Matignon and Place Beauvau, perceived in the opposition as a desire to “tamper with” these two polls already postponed last March because of the health context.
"Reopening the terraces, but postponing the elections is to confine democracy", still annoyed the president of Ile-de-France Valérie Pécresse, Monday morning on France Info.
The day before, it was the LR President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, who threatened outright to seize the Constitutional Council in the event of a postponement.
As for the Association of Mayors of France, chaired by François Baroin, it evoked "the fear of the verdict" for the majority which expects a large defeat in these elections.
#TerritoiresUnis “The postponement of #elections: failure of the vaccine strategy and / or political calculation?”
#Collterr @francoisbaroin @Dbussereau @ RenaudMuselier @ ADepartementsF @l_amf @Regionsdefrance https://t.co/4CCBc1lpYQ pic.twitter.com/0R8CKXoUkn
- AMF |
mayors of France (@l_amf) April 12, 2021
Except that the tension has finally come down a notch.
While Jean Castex had initially planned to unveil the result of this poll this Tuesday afternoon during the debate organized in the Assembly, the Minister of the Interior politely grilled politeness on Monday evening by communicating earlier than expected.
Admittedly, the difference is not final, but a majority emerges: 56% of the mayors who voted (24,000 in all) were in favor of maintaining in June, 40% for the postponement, 4% not have not spoken.
Consequently, according to those around him, it is therefore this position that the Prime Minister will defend before parliamentarians on Tuesday, as he had committed to.
“The good sense of the mayors has spoken!
"Says Damien Abad, president of the LR group to the Assembly, planting in passing a last banner to denounce" the political maneuver "of the government, which tried to probe the mayors" on the sly "according to him.
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End of the controversy?
Not so sure.
“Everyone's nerves are on edge.
We have the ability to create controversy ourselves, it's crazy… ”, annoys an LREM parliamentarian.
“Now, we just have to cross our fingers so that the vaccination campaign does not have any more jolts, and that a majority of citizens can go in peace to the polling stations.
Otherwise, we will be torn in public opinion, "fears a strategist of the macronie, for whom it would have been preferable" to wait for September ".
Because the executive knows that it continues to walk on eggshells.
Jean Castex and Gérald Darmanin spoke especially on the subject Monday morning, one-on-one.
It was also on the menu of the traditional weekly lunch between the President of the Republic and his Prime Minister.
"This assumes that we will be able to vaccinate the 600,000 assessors and strippers by then"
If, officially, Emmanuel Macron is keeping a good distance from this election, unofficially, that's another story.
“He's got to have an eye on it.
It's obvious.
He always wants to take care of everything, ”slips a deputy.
“The president prefers democratic life to take its course.
So, if June is possible, he prefers June, defends those around him.
But he approves the government's desire to consult widely, because it is a collective meeting for the nation.
"
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The fact remains that it is in the ranks of the majority that the debate could soon turn sour.
In particular vis-à-vis the partner of the MoDem, very opposed to the maintenance in June.
“This assumes that we will be able to vaccinate the 600,000 assessors and strippers by then.
But the problem is that we often only know a good part of them the days before, sometimes the same day!
In short, it will be hellish to organize, ”notes the boss of the group to the Assembly, Patrick Mignola.
The same anger among some mayors who are nevertheless close to Macron, like Karl Olive (Poissy): "I predict that the June ballot will be a real fiasco: a major abstention .... and an obstacle course for the organizers who risk living an
electoral
Koh-Lanta
.
"