“Things are going as she wished” : according to those around her, Valérie Pécresse follows a well-rehearsed flight plan. Less than two months before the first round of the presidential election, the Republican candidate is counting on her meeting at the Zenith in Paris, Sunday, February 13, to gain altitude over her competitors.
For several days, however, it has been an area of turbulence that the champion of the right has been going through, to the point of making her big Parisian meeting a decisive moment in her presidential adventure. Faced with 8,000 supporters, it is for her to erase the obstacles recently piled up on her way to the Elysée.
An accumulation of mixed polls
The difficulties of Valérie Pécresse are first observed in the numerous polls carried out for the election. While she had clearly benefited from a launch pad after the LR Congress, the president of the Ile-de-France region saw her curve bend week after week. Now outdistanced by Marine Le Pen, she sees Eric Zemmour getting closer in her rear view mirror, who has stabilized his voting intentions around 14% after a small air pocket in December.
The latest edition of Ifop’s daily survey for Paris Matchpublished on Friday, even shows that the two candidates are at the same level, at 15%, which had never happened since the appointment of Valérie Pécresse in early December. “You have to see the path traveled in three months and the momentum that has been created. We are now on a solid base”says his spokesman, Othman Nasrou, at the Sunday newspaper.
Multiple defections in favor of Macron
Valérie Pécresse’s week was also marked by the rallying of several right-wing personalities to Emmanuel Macron. These defections even constituted a small soap opera: Nicolas Sarkozy’s former budget minister, Eric Woerth, announced his departure on Wednesday afternoon, before the LR mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, announced her intention to join the camp of the Head of State, Thursday evening. Friday morning, it was Nora Berra, ex-Secretary of State in charge of Seniors under Nicolas Sarkozy, who affirmed her rallying to the majority, denouncing a “small horse race” to radicalism.
To minimize the importance of these departures, the camp of Valérie Pécresse evokes “non-events” who do not come to shake up the one who spent her month of December bringing together the currents of her political family. “It doesn’t matter that much since they are avatars”, castigates Valérie Debord with franceinfo. Vice-president LR of the Grand Est region does not say she is worried about future poaching promised to the World by Thierry Solère, close to Emmanuel Macron from the ranks of LR.
“The presidential camp deploys a lot of energy for that, which shows that Valérie Pécresse is the main threat of the head of state.”
Valérie Debord, vice-president of the Ile-de-France regionat franceinfo
No official support from Nicolas Sarkozy
He did not join Emmanuel Macron. Will he do it or will he stay true to his people? Nicolas Sarkozy has not yet officially supported Valérie Pécresse. However, he met the candidate Les Républicains, Friday in the middle of the day. This “frank and affectionate conversation”according to Valérie Pécresse, comes as the intentions of the former head of state remain unclear for the presidential election. “I have no doubt that Nicolas Sarkozy supports his political familyassures Valérie Debord. There is no subject.”
Still, the words of the former President of the Republic are long overdue, most of his lieutenants already being at the heart of Valérie Pécresse’s campaign. “We will not impose on Macron the date of his declaration of candidacy, just as we will not impose on Sarkozy the date on which he will give his support”sweeps near the World Franck Louvrier, one of his relatives and LR mayor of La Baule (Loire-Atlantique).
Rachida Dati’s severe tackle to Patrick Stefanini
While waiting for the support of Nicolas Sarkozy, Valérie Pécresse must already deal with internal criticism which can pollute her campaign. Patrick Stefanini paid the price this week. Valérie Pécresse’s campaign manager had responded, Thursday, February 3, to an interview given the day before by Rachida Dati at the Figaro (reserved for subscribers). The mayor of the 5th arrondissement of Paris had warned the candidate LR against the “technocratic positions” and the overflow of “technical measures”. “Rachida Dati was a municipal candidate two years ago, all French people remember how it ended”retorted Patrick Stefanini.
“I have no lessons to receive from Mr. Stefanini”tackled Rachida Dati on franceinfo, Thursday, calling him a “loser” and of “deserter”. “We have to stop with the legend that he made candidates win, he never made Jacques Chirac win”, she criticized about Patrick Stefanini. The latter had previously returned to his remarks made the previous week, evoking the “courageous and dynamic campaign” of Rachida Dati in the municipal elections of 2020, a correction “pretty pathetic” in the eyes of the elected Parisian. “It will have no impact on the campaign, it’s a skirmish that does not take”, evacuates Valérie Debord, who is impatiently awaiting the Parisian meeting on Sunday. At Les Républicains, each day is enough.