Presidential 2022: the candidates for the LR nomination are trying to stand out

Published on : 11/09/2021 – 00:42

Differences, yes, but unity above all. The five candidates for the LR nomination for the French presidential election of 2022 sought to stand out while noting many points of convergence, Monday, November 8, during their first televised debate.

Xavier Bertrand, Valérie Pécresse, Michel Barnier, Éric Ciotti and Philippe Juvin met in front of LCI, RTL and Le Figaro for a program of more than three hours, the first of a series of four before the congress where the LR activists will choose their candidate, from December 1 to 4.

The candidates sitting on the set first imagined their “first day” as president. Green light for the construction of “10 new nuclear reactors” for Xavier Bertrand, creation at the school of a “day of the heroes who make France” for Valérie Pécresse, “message to the armies” for Michel Barnier, referendum so that the France “recovers its legal sovereignty” for Eric Ciotti or even the launch of a “new European treaty” for Philippe Juvin.

Threat of disappearance

Aware of the role that the televised debates had in 2016 in the dynamics of François Fillon, everyone tried to stand out, avoiding the clash generating divisions. Because the classic right cannot afford the disputes that would threaten it with disappearance, between an extreme right which bites on its electorate and the supported winks of the Macron camp.

The five candidates will demonstrate this unity on Tuesday by going to Colombey-les-deux-Églises with the boss of LR Christian Jacob, for the 51st anniversary of the death of General de Gaulle.

In this debate, there were many points of convergence, from Emmanuel Macron’s criticism of the decline in public spending to the firmness on immigration. On this subject, Xavier Bertrand said he was ready for a “showdown” with the countries of origin, Michel Barnier defended his idea of ​​a moratorium and Valérie Pécresse pleaded for more charters.

“Arm wrestling”

However, a few muffled pikes flew, when Michel Barnier regretted that “(his) friends Xavier and Valérie pretend not to understand” his proposals. “Michel did not say how he financed his program,” said Valérie Pécresse.

The stake, for the competitors, was to speak to the 112,000 members of LR, but also to convince the French of their capacity to win the presidential election in April 2022, while the polls remain today very disappointing for the right, placing the Head of State in the lead ahead of Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour.

The identity polemicist has been described as an “adversary” for Michel Barnier, having “voted Mitterrand in 1981” according to Xavier Bertrand. “We cannot claim to be general of Gaul and say that Pétain protected the Jews of France,” said Valérie Pécresse. But Eric Ciotti, who would rather vote Zemmour than Macron in the second round, spoke of a “competitor”.

Within LR, 54% of LR sympathizers judge Xavier Bertrand “capable of winning the presidential election”, against 26% for Michel Barnier and 16% for Valérie Pécresse, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll for LCI published on Monday. But Michel Barnier is considered the favorite thanks to his loyalty to the party.

Assets

Also, each he pushed his strengths: Xavier Bertrand praised his action at the head of Hauts-de-France to defend his program combining “work premium” and increased power of prosecutors for sentences “up to five years”.

Michel Barnier posed as a unifier for after December 4, and repeated his proposals for lowering the debt trajectory and production taxes.

Boasting her “experience” in Île-de-France, Valérie Pécresse promised to “make all the reforms that the right has dreamed of for ten years”, in particular on pensions.

Eric Ciotti praised his “loyalty to Fillon” by unfolding his very right-handed program for “France to remain France” and “to bring down political correctness”.

As for Philippe Juvin, the head of emergencies at the Georges-Pompidou hospital wished to promote the installation of doctors in the territories.

With AFP