Election programs: the candidates’ variable geometry strategies – Le Monde

If the presidential campaign is subject to the frantic pace of continuous news channels, social networks and the primacy of immediacy, the development of programs remains a necessary step for any aspiring to the Elysee. Candidates will be questioned on the feasibility, credibility or even the cost of their project. At the time of small sentences and shocking formulas, the program constitutes a base to which voters can refer to make their choice. While the final ambition is the same, each candidate however has his own strategy to build and present to the greatest number of potential voters his vision for France.

In 1988, the outgoing president, François Mitterrand, summed up his proposals in a Letter to all French people about fifty pages, a few weeks before his re-election; in 2016, Bruno Le Maire had marked the primary of the right and the center with his program of 1000 pages. In this vein, armed with 693 proposals gathered in a 160-page booklet, sold in bookshops from mid-November, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s team praises the consistency and completeness of its program.

Each problem has its own proposition. The 70-year-old French deputy relies, for his third presidential election, on The future in common, greatly inspired by the 2012 and 2017 programs. “Road map for the country” has been “Updated”, relying on “5,000 citizen contributions”. He took into account the impact of #metoo mobilizations, “yellow vests”, marches for the climate or against police violence, lists the program coordinator, Clémence Guetté. “We need to be able to cover most of the topics that will come to our attention in the coming months”, she assures.

The strategy is quite different for Xavier Bertrand, candidate for the nomination of the Republicans party, which focuses his campaign on three “Priority projects” : “Authority, work and territories. “ Themes rather than an exhaustive catalog of measures, which will be developed later. “A presidential project must be based on a small number of strong measures on which the candidate will personally commit”, explains to World Vincent Chriqui, responsible for developing Mr. Bertrand’s program. But this choice goes against the programmatic inflation seen during the last presidential elections.

“Electoral clientele”

At the height of the campaign, not a day goes by without a candidate pulling out a new promise. A trip, a theme, a proposal. The ritual has become immutable, explains Nicolas Bué, political scientist and co-author of the book Political Programs. Genesis and uses (Rennes University Press, 2016). “The campaign is a time when a whole series of interest groups reach out to candidates through open letters, public demonstrations, forums…, he recalls. As they are solicited and there is an electoral clientele behind, the candidates are led to develop measures on questions that they had not considered. “

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