in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, LR and Together! compete to embody “the real right”

It’s hard to miss the LR activists who line the entrances and exits of the Auteuil market, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. “Sunday, Francis Szpiner, your mayor, so that he becomes deputy for the 16th”, chants one of them, leaflets in hand. In this interval between the two rounds of the legislative elections, the Young Republicans insist on the anchoring of their candidate in this 14th district of the capital and on his political loyalty: “We have a candidate who is the worthy heir of Claude Goasguen [l’ancien député de la circonscription, élu en 2017, est mort du Covid-19 en mai 2020. Il a été remplacé par sa suppléante juqu’à la fin du mandat] who was close to Jacques Chirac.”

“We have here a territory that has been on the right for an extremely long time. We will not let the territory fall. We know that the inhabitants are on our side.”

An LR activist

at franceinfo

A few meters away, the opposing team plays the national card. The activists Together!, invite passers-by to “give a majority to the president…” The name of the majority candidate is not necessarily mentioned. This is Benjamin Haddad, who finished with a six-point lead in the first lap ahead of Francis Szpiner. He hopes to win this duel in this emblematic criconscription of the right with a straight center line: “I come from a liberal, humanist, reformist right.”

“You went from Republicans to Macronie”, reproaches a voter to Benjamin Haddad. The candidate answers: “Me, what I regret is that LR had nothing more to offer. They were burdened with internal quarrels. And secondly, I find that we have a president who has made reforms that the right had not never dared to do”. “He’s on the right, like me, I’m… Martian”, laughs Francis Szpiner.

But the other subject that invites itself into the campaign is a local project, a treatment center for drug addicts. “About the crack center, do we have to move or not?”asks a local resident. It’s completely catastrophic.” “You are right to be devastated, I am totally against it, abounds Benjamin Haddad. I spoke to the Minister of Health about it to oppose it”. The majority candidate plays on his links with power and tackles his opponent, who is mayor of the 16th arrondissement and who would have done nothing to prevent the project.

>> Legislative 2022: LR, UDI… What is the state of the forces of the right-wing bloc before the second round?

Francis Szpiner denounces his side of false accusations: “As soon as I found out, I fought this project. But the difference between me and my competitor is that he is the government he supports who is organizing this. And so he is a bit schizophrenic. He is against in the 16ᵉ. But like a good little soldier, he will vote in the majority since he has made the commitment to vote anything and everything as long as he is asked.

The lawyer believes he incarnates the real right. He claims the support of a figure of the district, a certain Nicolas Sarkozy. Except that the former president also received the Macronist candidate during the campaign. Francis Szpiner also welcomed it on Twitter: “I thanked him for his faithful friendship and his support and Nicolas Sarkozy liked this tweet. What do you want for more obvious support?”