In a letter addressed to the mayors of France, a copy of which AFP obtained on Wednesday, Christiane Taubira asks elected officials to sponsor her, on behalf of the “democratic debate”, debate that would otherwise be “cut off from the word of a stateswoman, free of parties”. At the beginning of February, the candidate for the presidential election nevertheless claimed not to have “no worries” on obtaining the 500 sponsorships required by the Constitutional Council.
“As you know, collecting 500 signatures is, more than ever, difficult for many candidates”writes the candidate, who currently has only 73 sponsorships out of the 500 needed.
At the same time, this Wednesday evening, about twenty members of the Taubira Committees demonstrated silently, black plaster over their mouths and motionless, in front of the Constitutional Council in Paris, to demand that elected officials sponsor their candidate, with posters indicating “392,738 voters. Where are our sponsorships?”. These posters refer to the popular primary votea citizens’ initiative from which Christiane Taubira emerged victorious at the end of January.
Your sponsorship does not necessarily constitute support for my project, but it remains essential to my candidacy.
“Our vote is ignored, citizen expression is trampled on, democracy is muzzled”read one activist, saying they were “millions to wait for leftist and ecology candidates to come together with Christiane Taubira”.
In her letter to the mayors, Christiane Taubira makes “solemnly call” to mayors: “If, as you know, your sponsorship does not necessarily constitute support for my project, it remains essential to my candidacy. You hold the key to democratic debate for the presidential election. I am counting on you”she pleads. “My candidacy, although won after a vote that mobilized (nearly) 400,000 people, risks being hampered by political maneuvers or intimidation”she says again.
Tuesday evening, she again accused the Socialist Party of being maneuvering. “There always comes a time when […] the boss of the Socialist Party whistles the end of the freedom of the Radical Party” of the left, who announced on Monday his “withdrawal” of her campaign, she said on LCI. PS boss Olivier Faure immediately denied on Twitter: “The boss of the Socialist Party is not whistling anyone. Everyone is free to make their commitments. No false lawsuits between us”.
Jean-François Debat, mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse and in particular in charge of seeking sponsorship for the campaign of the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, said to himself on Wednesday “sorry to see this attitude” : “I take care of calling the mayors, convincing them, but between convincing and coercing, there is a difference. I don’t see how we could ban them from anything”, he insisted to AFP. As for the GRP, “It proves above all that there were internal discussions” on whether or not to support the candidate, he added.