“I am a very serious person.” At 50, Corinne Békaert, business manager from Dunkirk, believes very strongly in her candidacy for the presidential election of April 2022. She declared herself in July and has since built her project around a slogan: “Let’s dare to be different”. Since 2006, she has been the head of the company Epicur based in Herzeele, which offers gourmet baskets.
She, who has never been involved in politics before, believes she has experience to bring. “It’s not rational, but deep inside me, I have a voice to make heard so that we are much more positive, constructive and united. Today, we hear too many divisive discourses“, she explains.
I wouldn’t make this gesture if I didn’t have a deep commitment
She intends to bring from the business world her art of team management to bring the country together. Proof of this is his desire to create a ministry of communication and management to oversee all the others, in order to “give meaning and interactivity between the different ministries”.
For her, women and men politicians are too far from the field. “We no longer understand the directives, and the political parties can no longer convince. A major party that convinces only 15% of voters is no longer a major party. In a company, if I only have 15 employees out of 100 who follow me, I will not be able to advance“, she assures.
A participatory campaign
Faced with this observation, she therefore prefers to present herself directly in the presidential election rather than joining an already existing political movement. His main idea: to listen to those of others. Feeding on proposals from citizens, contributions from the field. “We have created a website on which everyone can come and contribute, give their concrete solution“, she advances.
the objective is to know how each on our scale we can bring a solution
The ground, the gathering and being positive. These are the three pillars of Corine Békaert who finances her campaign with her own funds. She has set up campaign premises in Dunkirk and is surrounded by several volunteers and a few temporary workers. To convince and get noticed, she relies on social networks. No big meeting planned for her, but rather direct video on social networks. “I don’t understand the point of spending hundreds of thousands of euros for this kind of meeting“, she explains. The field campaign will therefore wait.
A possible application?
In recent weeks, Corinne Békaert has approached many local elected officials to obtain the famous 500 sponsorships, essential for a candidacy. “We have sent 10,000 letters to 10,000 mayors and we are starting to get responses from elected officials who want to discuss or make a contribution, it is taking place“, she says with unfailing enthusiasm.
This sponsorship campaign begins on January 31 and will end on March 4. Two months during which Corinne Békaert will try to come out of anonymity and convince elected officials to support her. If she will not be President of the Republic, she hopes to be able to make her voice heard by the election.