Is the candidate who enters the Elysée the one who has spent the most during his campaign? In view of the campaign accounts for the 2022 presidential election published on Tuesday July 19 in the Official Journal (PDF), having holes in your pockets is not enough to ensure victory. Franceinfo looked at the accounts of the candidates, as they were sent to the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Funding. The latter will then have to validate them by the end of the year.
In total, the 12 contenders for the Elysée have spent some 83.5 million euros before the first round. But these expenses are not evenly distributed among them. Yet criticized for entering the campaign late, Emmanuel Macron is the one who had the highest campaign budget (16.7 million euros), ahead of Valérie Pécresse (14.3 million euros) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (13.7 million euros). A hell of a lot for the candidate Les Républicains, who had to appeal for donations to absorb the cost of her electoral failure – the president of the Ile-de-France region had failed to reach 5% (she obtained 4.79% of the vote)a threshold that ensures reimbursement of campaign expenses by the State.
Conversely, Jean Lassalle (813,060 euros), Philippe Poutou (819,686), Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (871,410) and Nathalie Arthaud (891,098) are those who spent the least money, with very relatives, between 800,000 and 900,000 euros. Which is far from being a coincidence: candidates who do not reach the 5% mark of the vote are still reimbursed 800,000 euros.
Even if it is necessary to include in the expenses of Emmanuel Macron the costs related to the campaign between the two rounds, the outgoing president therefore spent 20 times more than his most economical competitor.
But have these sums of money achieved their purpose? Jean Lassalle, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Marine Le Pen are those who spent their budget most usefully, in view of the number of votes obtained. For each ballot in his name, the former deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques spent only 0.74 euros, his sovereignist competitor 1.20 euros and the far-right candidate, who arrived in the second round, 1.41 euros. We also note that his competitor in the second round, Emmanuel Macron, is not doing so badly from this point of view: if he is the one who has spent the most money, the “cost” of each of his votes cost 1.71 euros.
Conversely, Valérie Pécresse, Anne Hidalgo and Fabien Roussel “paid” dearly for the votes obtained. The Republican candidate spent 8.53 euros per vote obtained, eleven times more than Jean Lassalle. The votes of the socialist candidate returned to him at 6.07 euros and those of the leader of the French Communist Party at 5.01 euros.