The presidential election, which takes place on April 10 and 24, is fast approaching. For the contenders for the Elysée, it is first of all a question of bringing together the precious 500 sponsorships, essential sesame to have his ballot in the voting booth next April. Sponsorships from local elected officials continue to arrive at the Constitutional Council. On this Wednesday, 93 elected officials from Yonne had returned their form. The list reserves surprises with candidates with very little media coverage.
A former Greens presidential candidate from 1988
The first surprise is to see the name of the former environmentalist candidate in the 1988 presidential election appear in this list: Antoine Waechter. The representative of the Independent Ecological Movement obtained the sponsorship of Didier Moreau, mayor of Béon, a small village of 500 inhabitants near Joigny. The candidate campaigns for the defense of landscapes, defends nuclear power and fiercely opposes the deployment of wind turbines. He came to Béon in December to support the town against a wind project. The chosen one assumes his choice:It’s a political choice, I want to defend the inhabitants of the village and their tranquility, so it’s the best choice I’ve found for that.“. In 2019, Antoine Waechter signed a book-pamphlet entitled The wind scandal book that he dedicated to the inhabitants who came to meet him at the end of last year. “Antoine Waechter may defend nature, he is the only one to ask for a moratorium on wind power. This sponsorship is also a way to thank him because he is the only one to have come here”, explains Didier Moreau. It is also the one and only elected to sponsor – for now – Antoine Waechter in France.
Another story from the side of Lucy-sur-Cure, a village of just over 200 inhabitants, next to Vermenton. The mayor, Frédéric Moiselet-Parquet did not want to give sponsorships for the presidential election before being approached by the teams of the far-left candidate, Anasse Kazib (34), railroad trade unionist and Trotskyist militant. He created his party, Permanent Revolution, after leaving the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA). “I find it concrete, closer to reality compared to our usual policies“.
But sponsorship does not mean political support insists Frédéric Moiselet-Parquet.
It’s not political but strategic sponsorship because I don’t really have the same orientation, knowing that this candidate might not have 500 signatures” underlines the mayor of Lucy-sur-Cure.
Less than three weeks before the deadline to hope to cross the bar of 500 signatures, Anasse Kazib has gathered 118 sponsorships, including four in Yonne.
Another surprise, the candidate George Kuzmanovic came from Insubordinate France and who created his party The Sovereign Republic in 2019, obtained two sponsorships in Yonne. The philosopher candidate Gaspard Koenig collects a signature in our department, just like the candidate of the animalist party, Helene Thouy.
Valérie Pécresse at the head of sponsorships in Yonne
Since the 2017 presidential election, the list of sponsorships is public. The Constitutional Council updates it twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays as sponsorships are validated. After the publication dated Tuesday February 15, 93 elected Creuse residents have so far supported one of the candidates for the Élysée.
The outgoing president, Emmanuel Macron, not yet an official candidate, has 18 sponsorships, preceded by Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains) with 25 sponsorships, grand champion in our department.
On the left, it gets stuck, the socialist candidate, Anne Hidalgo brings together two sponsorships, just like Yannick Jadot (EELV). The candidate La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Melenchon has five, and the communist, Fabien Rousselfour.
The far right is struggling with two ballots for Eric Zemmour (Reconquest!), five for Marine Le Pen (RN), tied with the pro-frexit candidate, Francois Asselineau (Popular Republican Union) and six for the sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Stand up France).
Sponsorships for the presidential election are open until March 4.