"By 'bringing out the Kärcher', Valérie Pécresse wants to make herself audible to right-wing voters"

Benjamin Morel is a lecturer in public law at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

FIGAROVOX.

- Before a trip to the Bouches-du-Rhône, Valérie Pécresse assured that she wanted to "bring the Kärcher out of the cellar", borrowing an expression used by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2005. Is this a way to break with his Chiraquism?

Benjamin MOREL. -

I would say that for Valérie Pécresse, there are three objectives. The first, and not the least, is to be audible. Today, it is quite difficult for the candidates while the health crisis still weighs heavily on the news. However, such words inevitably cause a reaction and we have talked about Valérie Pécresse a good part of the day in the media, precisely thanks to these words. In a way, it only reproduces the method of communication which had led Nicolas Sarkozy to keep his same words.

The second objective is to give a strong signal to an electorate very anchored to the right, to put it simply, to a Ciotti electorate.

It is a sign that can be understood as a sign of radicalism, but of radicalism that is difficult to attack on the right since it only uses the words of a former president deemed to be unanimous.

The third objective is obviously to capture and claim the heritage.

Valérie Pécresse reminds right-wing voters nostalgic for the Sarkozy years that she is continuity.

Is this a way to acquire the support of the former president and to strengthen his position on the right?

I do not know Nicolas Sarkozy, but I think him rational enough not to determine his choice on this type of small reference.

The choice of the former President of the Republic will be, in view of what he was kind enough to let leak out, so far more linked to the political configuration a stone's throw from the first round than to some subliminal references that could be made. the candidates.

The health dynamic that put Emmanuel Macron back at the center of the game makes the situation very difficult for the LR right, his electorate being of all those in the opposition the most aligned on this subject with the head of state.

Benjamin Morel

In an Ifop poll for

That's the whole point; how to distinguish himself from Emmanuel Macron when the political identity of Valérie Pécresse, rather liberal centrist, does not really make him an obvious alternative to the current head of state. I already had the opportunity to examine in your columns a few weeks ago the strengths and weaknesses of the Pécresse candidacy in the current surveys. We are still there. The flight over, however, it seems more and more caught up by Marine Le Pen, which risks straining the useful voting effect of which it may have been the subject. In addition, the health dynamic that put Emmanuel Macron at the center of the game makes the situation very difficult for the LR right, his electorate being of all those in the opposition the most aligned on this subject with the Head of State.

Emmanuel Macron by launching the controversy gave the feeling of a vacuum between him and the antivax.

He referred the French to a binary alternative making oppositions inaudible, especially LR.

Benjamin Morel

The remarks of Emmanuel Macron on the unvaccinated intended to destabilize the candidate LR, favorable to the health policy of the government?

Will this force it to stand out on other themes?

In itself, the right has absolutely no interest in playing on the health issue. His electorate is close to Emmanuel Macron on these themes of the coup during the electoral period LR must, but cannot really, oppose. This was felt in the parliamentary coup carried out on the last two days of the consideration of the bill. The straight line stands out on the form if it cannot be done on the substance. This is also reflected in the dispersed order votes of LR on the vaccination pass, demonstrating a strategic wandering. Emmanuel Macron by launching the controversy gave the feeling of a vacuum between him and the antivax. He referred the French to a binary alternative making oppositions inaudible, especially LR. For Valérie Pécresse, the health crisis is a trap. It should therefore apply to developother themes… if the media give it the leisure.