The Animalist Party called on mayors this Saturday to sponsor them for “save democracy” and the “political pluralism” rather than supporting applicants who have already exceeded 500 sponsorships. “Of the 500 sponsorships needed to run for president, some have way more than they need. Some have 1,050, 1,249” and “show off on the internet”denounced Hélène Thouy, co-founder of the Animalist Party and presidential candidate, referring respectively to Emmanuel Macron and Valérie Pécresse.
“With each additional sponsorship (…), a nail is driven into this coffin of democracy and political pluralism”she said during a “burial ceremony of democratic pluralism” in front of the headquarters of the association of mayors of France (AMF) in Paris, in front of a coffin symbolically filled with ballot papers.
The Animalist Party chose this place “symbolic” because “80% of the people who can give sponsorship are mayors”specified the lawyer at the bar of Bordeaux, who has 56 referrals. So she called on them to sponsor her and “to stop sponsoring those who already have too many sponsorships, those who are drying up democracy, those who are stifling it and those who are drying it up”.
Since the filing of sponsorships opened before the Constitutional Council on January 27, 2022, several elected officials had indicated their intention to sponsor her, continued the candidate, but they withdrew because, according to her, they would have been intimidatedsuch as a loss of subsidies for the municipality or a refusal of nomination in the next elections, in particular on the part of hunters. “Have the courage to fight against the pressures, the intimidation of all those who have an interest in what our word does not carry”concluded the candidate who notably defends the anti-species association L214.
Since the Animalist Party won 2.2% of the vote in the European elections in May 2019, creating surprise and causing virtually on par with communists and UDI centrists, the subject of the animal cause is increasingly coming into the political debate. Hélène Thouy announced her candidacy for the presidency in July 2021 and the first meeting of the party will take place on Saturday evening in Orléans.