It was an open secret, but it’s now official. Former president and historic leader of the French right Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that he would vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the presidential election on April 24. This support, expected for weeks, comes at a time when the president has been surveying the popular districts of Hauts-de-France and Moselle for two days in order to convince left-wing voters to vote for him.
“I will vote for Emmanuel Macron because I believe he has the necessary experience in the face of a serious international crisis that is more complex than ever, because his economic project puts the promotion of work at the center of all his priorities, because his commitment European is clear and unambiguous,” the former president wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
As expected, the one who retained until recently on the right a certain moral magisterium thus responded in the affirmative to the call launched Sunday evening by the president, who came first (27.84%) in the first round. ahead of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen (23.15%). Emmanuel Macron then called on “all those who want to work for France” to join him in founding “a great political movement of unity and action”.
A split party
Close to Emmanuel Macron for a long time, the former president thus brings to light the crisis that Les Républicains (LR) is going through. A crisis that is pushing the party he himself founded to the brink of implosion since his candidate, Valérie Pécresse, did not even cross the 5% mark in the first round last Sunday. The disavowal is scathing since the day before, the political office of LR had rather decided to call on the population to “block” Marine Le Pen without calling on her to vote Macron. “We are never wrong in choosing clarity”, proclaims Nicolas Sarkozy.
Visiting Mulhouse, Emmanuel Macron immediately thanked the former president for his trust and support. “It honors me and obliges me,” he said. We must gather. “Words that took on a strange meaning, because the president had just spent several hours in the field in order to seduce left-wing voters, and particularly those of the radical left who supported Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who arrived third on Sunday (21.95 %). Quoting Jaurès, the president also affirmed that he no longer made “a dogma” of his promise to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65 years old.
This support from Nicolas Sarkozy could nevertheless be crucial for the future. According to the daily The world, the former president would be involved in negotiations intended to preserve around fifty seats for LR deputies during the June legislative elections in exchange for their support for the presidential majority. On Sunday, the former president of LR Jean-François Copé openly wanted the right to be associated with a “government pact”.
But at LR, not everyone sees it that way. The deputy of Vaucluse Julien Aubert did not hesitate to compare former President Sarkozy to the god Cronos who eats his children.
The party is literally torn apart. On the one hand, those who will vote Macron, such as Valérie Pécresse, the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, and senator Gérard Larcher. On the other, those who want to preserve the independence of the party, such as the deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes Éric Ciotti and the senator Bruno Retailleau. “We will not rebuild the right by diluting ourselves in macronism,” said the latter.
“Winning votes”
At a press conference, Marine Le Pen was ironic about a rallying which, she says, can “win votes” for her. “I was surprised that he [Sarkozy] don’t do it until the second round, she said. I expected him to do it on the first, ”she added, even mentioning the possibility of making election posters.
If the former president retains a certain aura on the right, it is not certain that in the regions where the population voted largely for Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the name of Sarkozy arouses much support. Even on the right, the former president was booed by Valérie Pécresse activists during his last assembly, a week ago, in Paris. When he was sentenced to one year in prison for illegal financing of his 2012 campaign, a sentence he appealed, only 27% of French people kept a positive image of him, while 59% had a negative one.
As if they had given each other the word, the same day, former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin also announced that he would vote for Emmanuel Macron. Something to comfort Marine Le Pen, who likes to present herself as the “anti-system” candidate.