The legislative campaign is accelerating this Monday, May 30 with the start of the official campaign. France Bleu Occitanie gives the floor to the referent of the party Edouard Philippe’s Horizons in Toulouse: Francois Chollet. Horizons is part of the presidential majority coalition Together which also includes Renaissance (formerly LREM) and the Modem.
France Bleu Occitanie: In 2017, En Marche won 19 constituencies out of 26 in the Midi-Pyrénées area. Can you do better in 2022?
Francois Chollet: I think in particular that an election is never won in advance. And it is with modesty but with determination that our candidates, the candidates of the presidential majority, embark on this election. It is never won in advance. The question is that of defend the president’s program, to allow him to have a majority to be able to govern. The question also is to continue to remain mobilized in order to be able to achieve this goal.
When you say it’s never won in advance, do you have any doubts about what happened in the presidential election? Do you know that many voters voted Macron in the second round by default?
No, I have no doubts. Simply, there could be the risk of demobilization. And to say finally, the president is elected without ambiguity, with more than 58% of the votes and therefore things are done. Nope ! You have to stay mobilized and I call on everyone who voted for Emmanuel Macron to maintain their support, to remain mobilized on June 12 and 19.
Your goal is to ensure the re-election of the incumbents. Is that the minimum?
Yes, in fact. The question is that each outgoing goes, goes back to fight in his own constituency. There are not only leavers, there are new candidates also in at least three constituencies. So, indeed, each, in his own fight with the geographical, sociological, political characteristics of his constituency, goes to battle on the ground.
Our adversaries: they are the extremes.
Who are the adversaries of the République en Marche and of Horizons? It is the national rally that won votes in the presidential election. It was the rebellious France who made the points in the first round?
Our adversaries: they are the extremes. Whether it’s Mr. Mélenchon and the electoral alliance around him on the left. Or what is happening around the Rassemblement National and Marine Le Pen on the right. We have deep differences with each of these parties.
But how to convince a voter who voted Mélenchon or Marine Le Pen for the presidency? Why would he go to you there, in the legislative elections?
Quite simply because Mélenchon, it is this Sixth Republic which brings us back to a parliamentary regime, to a sort of Fourth Republic. Because Mélenchon is also an exit from Europe, even if it’s not said like that. He wants a renegotiation of the treaties of Europe but also an exit from nuclear power. It’s the extreme left and we are fighting the extreme left.
Does that mean you’re also counting on the membership vote? Because there are people who voted by default for Emmanuel Macron in the second round?
But there are people who voted by membership. It’s part of the election campaign and the arguments developed to convince. There is indeed a vote which may be of no confidence, but above all there is a membership vote and that’s what we have to work on. This is what our candidates have to work on.
Emmanuel Macron all the same, has been rather non-existent since the second round of the presidential election. We don’t hear it in this legislative campaign. Do you regret that the president does not wet his shirt a little more?
I think he made up a government of work and combat, with both old and heavyweights, but also new faces. And I think that it has brought and still brings on the contrary – as in 2017 – a diversity which is the guarantor of the plurality and openness of its action.
The deputies have acquired experience during this quinquennium
In 2017, there was much criticism of the newly elected members, the new deputies, saying that they were stooges. They were a bit tender, that they voted whatever the president told them. In 2022, will we have this same type of deputies?
In any case, they were young, newly elected deputies. Most were in their first term. They have acquired experience during this five-year term and I think that indeed, they are probably, in political terms, more seasoned than they were before. But in terms of electoral combat, I think it’s the same thing. We are behind the policy that the French voted for by electing Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic.
Have you set yourself a target for the Toulouse region since you are a Horizons referent? In terms of constituencies, how many do you want?
There is no goal. Once again, I told you, there are constituencies that are very different. Some are more rural, others more urban. The themes are not the same. People’s concerns are not quite the same in the constituencies. The oppositions are not the same. So there is a specificity that we need to know how to preserve and maintain during this campaign.