Before the debate on Wednesday, the supporters of each candidate are asked to be quiet. This is the instruction passed both on the side of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
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Silence in the ranks ! Around the outgoing president, the rule is in six words: “No one speaks before Emmanuel Macron.” In the campaign team, we explain that the idea is not to saturate the media space before the debate. The objective is also to avoid leaving the road. Tuesday, April 19, around 6 p.m., the figures of Macronie – ministers or parliamentarians – who had planned to speak on Wednesday received a phone call from campaign headquarters to cancel their participation in programs. “We were told it was non-negotiable”says an adviser.
Same desire for media sobriety at Marine Le Pen, but the regime is less strict: not all stakeholders are housed in the same boat. There are those who are now deprived of media, and those who have the right to do so. Said more modestly by a leader: “The team of spokespersons empowered to speak has been tightened.” Those whose performance has been deemed disappointing are excluded. Those who seem too aggressive, like the elected Burgundian Julien Odoul for example. Are also set aside those who got tangled up to explain certain points of the program, on the pension reform for example. “It’s true that it was going in all directions”, entrusts an elected RN, when another recognizes that “some mastered the program very moderately.”
They are only a handful – we counted eight – authorized to speak in the media. This applies to today, to the pre-debate, but also to the last 48 hours of campaigning.
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This is one of the differences with 2017. Five years ago, there were no specific instructions ahead of the debate. Neither on the side of Emmanuel Macron nor Marine Le Pen. The supporters of the latter had even multiplied the speeches. Until the candidate, exhausted to see them parade everywhere, decrees a total blackout at midday. A posteriori, she had explained that the comments of each other had exceeded her, and had participated in distracting her. “Everyone I was supposed to work with arrived late”, she also justified. This time, the lieutenants are asked to stay close to their phones.