The Republicans chose their candidate. For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, a woman will represent the right-wing party in the presidential election. With 60.95% of the vote, Valérie Pécresse beat Eric Ciotti in the second round of the Republican Congress, Saturday, December 4. Back to the reasons for this success.
She plowed the land
The president of the Ile-de-France region has spared no efforts to meet LR members. “She carried out a field campaign, at La Chirac, with a lot of travel and around 90 public meetings. Sometimes she did three departments in the same day”, says Othman Nasrou, spokesperson for Valérie Pécresse.
November 23 in Charente, Charente-Maritime and Gironde, November 24 in Dordogne, Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 26 in Lyon or even 27 in Doubs … “She covered almost all departments”, congratulates Vincent Jeanbrun, a longtime lieutenant.
“And when she couldn’t make it, she organized meetings on the Zoom app with the activists.”
Vincent Jeanbrunto franceinfo
This fieldwork enabled her to make her program known, but also to begin a reconciliation with certain LR activists who have not forgotten her departure from the party in 2019. Before she resumes her membership card of LR a few days before the congress.
It has benefited from very active networks
To win the closed primary of the Republicans, the founder of the Free movement! was able to draw on the experience and knowledge of its campaign manager, Patrick Stefanini. The mainstay of Jacques Chirac’s victory in 1995 and the main architect of François Fillon’s success in the right-wing primary in 2016, this enarque knows perfectly well the workings of the party and its candidate. He led his campaign for the regional 2015 in Ile-de-France.
“His role was decisive. He is a wonderful campaign manager. He brings order, an organization. He allowed us to distinguish the essential from the accessory”, says a member of the campaign team. He was particularly valuable in the battle for memberships. “It was a quasi-military organization, we managed to find votes and memberships one by one”, adds Vincent Jeanbrun.
“At the start of the campaign, we had the contact details of 10,000 people who weren’t, or no longer, at LR… And we managed to convince 8,500 to join.”
Vincent Jeanbrunto franceinfo
To attract LR activists, the Pécresse camp relied on referents in each department, as well as on the 400 sponsorships of elected officials who applied for the congress. This organization was activated until the last hours of the campaign to convince the supporters of Xavier Bertrand, Michel Barnier and Philippe Juvin to mobilize in favor of Valérie Pécresse during the second round. “I can tell you that in the ‘war room’, the phones heat up, we are not at all at rest”, confided a member of the campaign team on Friday morning.
She negotiated the televised debates well
When she entered the campaign, some party executives wondered about the real motivations of Valérie Pécresse and her ability to go all the way. Observers even imagined it in Matignon as part of a possible ticket with Xavier Bertrand. “And why couldn’t Xavier Bertrand be my Prime Minister?”, she replied on BFMTV.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit cliché, the woman in number 2, the woman still in number 2?”
Valerie Pécresseon BFMTV
To give credibility to his candidacy, the former Minister of Higher Education under Nicolas Sarkozy relied on his television appearances, and in particular during the four debates organized on LCI, BFMTV, CNews and France 2. “The debates brought him a lot, a lot of people discovered it. It was extremely profitable for him, a bit like Fillon in 2016”, estimate his spokesperson Othman Nasrou.
“She was able to express some strong ideas, such as the reduction of civil servants, because divisive subjects are always promising in an internal campaign.”
Othman Nasrouto franceinfo
In her program, the candidate actually announces the “elimination of 200,000 positions in the administration of the State and local communities”. Without specifying which ones. But she also adds that 50,000 additional jobs could be created “so that the public authorities refocus on its three priority missions: protect, educate and treat”.
“The French got to know her and, after the first debate, no one dared to imagine that she represented the soft right or the Macron-compatible right.”
VIncent Jeanbrunto franceinfo
In a very right-wing campaign where the candidates competed in their imagination on security proposals, the elected Ile-de-France has been able to invest in other subjects such as the economy or family policy. She also drew some shocking formulas, accusing Emmanuel Macron of having “burnt the cash register” at a “five-year term for almost nothing”. “This made a bit of an impression, because we know that, on public finance issues, there is an expectation, observe Othman Nasrou. She showed during the debates that she had a complete project, a real presidential project. “
She knew how to gather her camp
In this campaign, Valérie Pécresse was able to gather behind her some of the Sarkozy networks, in particular Brice Hortefeux, Pierre Charon and Frédéric Péchenard. “Of course it was a plus, a good point to have these elected officials well identified on our side”, admits Othman Nasrou. The former President of the Republic has not officially taken sides, but it is rumored that his former Minister of the Budget was his “choice of the heart”, according to confidences obtained by Politico.
“The words of Nicolas Sarkozy were, in any case, very warm, Thursday evening, on the phone.”
A relative of Valérie Pécresseto franceinfo
Beyond the Sarkozysts, Valérie Pécresse’s team gathered the signatures of 1,300 elected officials, including about fifty parliamentarians, who called in Le Figaro to vote for the president of the Ile-de-France region. Finally, the rally materialized on the evening of the first round with the rallies of the beaten, Xavier Bertrand, Philippe Juvin and Michel Barnier.
“The rallying dynamic is on … and it will continue with Eric Ciotti.”
Vincent Jeanbrunto franceinfo
Valérie Pécresse will now have to deal with the finalist of the congress and his very right-wing program. “There is no doubt about the rally with Eric Ciotti. When it is a candidate with a central position who wins, there is no risk of implosion”, says Othman Nasrou. “The risk, for her, is to place her followers. If she goes on something a little more centrist, she misses the boat., warns support from Eric Ciotti. She has to say to Ciotti: ‘You are going to be my partner, we are going to do Batman and Robin, you are talking to those tempted by Zemmour and I to those who are disappointed with Macron’. “
She comes across as the best luck on the right
If for a long time, Xavier Bertrand bet on his favorite label in the polls to hope to win, it was finally Valérie Pécresse who was able to convince LR voters of his ability to go for victory. “She showed her determination during the campaign and her ability to have the stature of a statesman. She showed that she could be imagined at the platform of the UN or the European Parliament”, estimates Vincent Jeanbrun, who recalls that his candidate speaks six languages (Russian, English, Spanish, German and Japanese, in addition to French).
“I am the only one who can beat Emmanuel Macron”, now assures Valérie Pécresse. For now, the candidate is struggling to exceed 10-11% in voting intentions for the first round of the presidential election, but her party is banking on the dynamics of Congress to move the lines. “She is crossing the stairs little by little. She will be at 14% after the nomination and at 15% in ten days”, predicted a cadre of Republicans. The support of Emmanuel Macron also quickly targeted the candidate as a serious competitor. According to Point, François Bayrou regularly confides in his entourage: “The danger is Valérie Pécresse.”