Valérie Pécresse’s campaign “crosses a zone of turbulence” because of the war in Ukraine, admits those around her

The presidential campaign in France is turned upside down by the war in Ukraine. It is very difficult to mobilize, especially for Valérie Pécresse, candidate Les Républicains. Critics abound, especially after his meeting at the Zenith in Paris and his “Defence Council” on Ukraine. Valérie Pécresse is also disavowed by tenors since Éric Woerth and Jean-Pierre Raffarin now support Emmanuel Macron.

All these difficulties are reflected in the polls where it plummets. Last week, that of Elabe for BFMTV / L’Express / SFR credited her with 12% of voting intentions, and she even drops to 11% in the Harris Interactive poll for Challenges. The elected officials on the ground are therefore trying to save this difficult campaign, especially in Toulouse.

We must move forward, insists Bertrand Serp, deputy mayor LR. “There is Pecresse bashingyes, the meeting was not a success, it’s true, Valérie recognized it herself”he concedes. “In a campaign, you always take blows. There are always low blows. There are always people who join you and others who leave you. But she is a fighter, she has the ability to bounce back and he has a month left.”

The war in Ukraine is weighing down Valérie Pécresse’s campaign and at the moment there is a kind of fierceness around the candidate, according to Pierre Esplugasse Labatu, elected to the town hall of Toulouse and co-president of the support committee for Valérie Pécresse in Haute-Garonne. “I’m not going to lie to you, we’re going through a zone of turbulence, he acknowledges. “Of course, by definition, an opposition candidate has less power than an outgoing president, especially when he is once again served by the economic situation. But crisis or no crisis, there is a debate to be had for the five years to come.” On the ground the activists continue to try to mobilize despite everything, with in sight, the meeting of Valérie Pécresse on March 18 in Toulouse.