The departmental? "It is an election of steeples", "of ultra-proximity", "of notables", lists a minister about this election which takes place, like the regional ones, on June 20 and 27, 2021. And La République en works (LREM), in all this? “We don't give a damn and that's normal. We have no other choice, bluntly blurted out another. Such a young political formation, with its sociology, its geography, has rather an interest in concentrating on the regional ones. "Elections yet already difficult for the presidential party ... LREM deputies, also candidates, even complained in group meetings that the party does not take enough care of the departmental deadline, as a stride, an idea obviously refuted at HQ.
The Marchers, how many divisions in the 2,028 cantons?
Investitures and support were played out locally.
No national line, but a strategy of “variable geometry” alliances sometimes within the same department.
According to the management of LREM, for 1,074 pairs supported by the presidential majority (which has two outgoing presidents, one of whom does not stand for re-election), 504 incumbent candidates are from the party.
"Often without the LREM label ...", observes an adviser to the executive.
Three candidate ministers
Notably, of the three ministers in the running, Brigitte Bourguignon (Autonomy), Gérald Darmanin (Interior) Sébastien Lecornu (Overseas), none wears it, according to the register of lists published by the Ministry of the Interior. “A sign”, laments an activist. The LREM label, "it's a foil," slips a minister. According to a count made by France Inter at the beginning of June, the party also appears in its name in less than… 10% of the cantons. "It's not very salesy locally, so we try to depoliticize as much as possible," blows a Walker. “Exactly as for all parties! In local elections, candidates do not necessarily display a partisan label. We accept this approach, it does not mean at all that we are doing the deadlock, ”defends the party boss, Stanislas Guerini,with the hope of bringing elected officials into the departmental councils.
Read alsoRegional and departmental elections: the presidential warm-up ... but not only!
What, nevertheless, to revive, after the failure of the municipal, the eternal question of the local establishment of LREM.
"It suits Macron that we do not talk about the departmental, because he has no one," balances a former five-year Hollande.
"You need a microscope to see what the party of Emmanuel Macron weighs", recently tackled Baron LR, François Baroin.
"I prefer to be On the move than LR", returns Guerini, annoyed.
This election is a reminder that "to take root, it takes time", underlines a strategist of Macronie. That “the LREM machine did not know how to impose itself” slices a militant, more severe, when others fear there too “strong RN surges”. “There's nothing to do, sweeps a Macronist. A departmental councilor who has done the job, who knows all the associations in his canton, he is untouchable. Or when the old world remembers the new one ...