Appointment in congress unknown. It has now been two months since the five contenders for the nomination The Republicans are shouting their lungs out and crisscrossing the rooms of activists in France to hammer home their certainty: they are obviously the best candidate to win the right in 2022. Tuesday evening they will debate for the fourth and last time, on France 2, and it is the next day that the 139,918 LR inserts will have to decide between them by electronic vote. Each team sees the “dynamic” at its doorstep but, in fact, everyone has their eyes glued to a peephole more misty than ever. “It's really the unknown…” we blurt out, confused, at the presidency of a powerful federation.
So, Michel Barnier, Xavier Bertrand, Éric Ciotti, Valérie Pécresse (and to a lesser extent Philippe Juvin, even if he scored points) threw all their strength into the battle in recent days. If he kept repeating that he had "no excitement", the pressure is strong on the high shoulders of a Barnier, darling (ephemeral?) Of a militant base harnessed to the argument of loyalty to the party, but which lost its feathers during the debates where it was withdrawn and targeted.
"He arouses criticism because others are afraid of him", we want to believe in those around him.
On France 2, we are promised "offensive and clear";
his wife, Isabelle, did not she also advise him "to be himself, to be shorter in his answers, to be more punchy"?
“He returns to a more Gaullian posture.
But is it compatible with the times?
Asks an influential senator.
The person concerned will play in any case of "his presidential stature", one of his assets with the base.
"We choose a future President of the Republic, the activists must not be mistaken", slips a relative.
The refrain of the useful vote
Make a mistake? It is said that Eric Ciotti, yet very far in the polls, is eyeing a qualification in the second round. His line, the most right-handed in the competition, to the point of spearheading certain RN ideas some criticize, is very popular with the base. The southern deputy also received significant support, from deputy Julien Aubert or LR vice-president Guillaume Peltier. "He is galvanized," promises those around him, after a week of investigating public meetings. Tuesday on France 2, he wants to hammer home that "the useful vote is him". "It is the only one able to seek the electorate tempted by Zemmour or Le Pen", continues the entourage.
Is it the same Ciotti that Xavier Bertrand refers to, when he repeats that his “candidacy will not be a testimonial candidacy”, that he is “there to win”, as he has done in recent days? Picard is probably the one who had the most to prove: returning late to the LR designation process, he did not benefit from a high level of sympathy from the grassroots. Will his marathon of federations have changed the situation? “He knows how to turn the rooms around,” a local executive recently told us at LR. The boss of Hauts-de-France appears to be the most “pugnacious” of this congress. He has been preparing for it for a long time and insists that he is the only one able to win popular enthusiasm, a key presidential vote. “Tuesday, we have to drive home the point. And that he succeeds in transposing his pugnacity during the debate ”,comments one of his spokespersons. Better placed than its competitors in the polls, it hopes to be the receptacle of a useful vote.
Pécresse is inspired by Fillon
As for Valérie Pécresse? “She's the intermediate candidate. She has a more loyal image than Bertrand but less than Ciotti and, in the polls, she is better placed than Ciotti but less well than Bertrand ”, gauges a deputy. In this in-between, the Ile-de-France has seized the “credibility” card. Again this Monday, she presented a "referendum bill on internal security and against Islamism", detailed by the menu, to show that she is "more ready than the others". "I am the candidate who has the most successful program, the most costed", she insisted, betting on the "seriousness" which had brought François Fillon to victory in 2016. Less at ease in meetings but determined, it detonated in the debates and is counting on the last. A support forum for elected officials could appear the same day.
The Stature, the Pugnaceous, the Serious or the Right-handed?
Answer this Saturday, and the real campaign will begin.