The debate on presidential sponsorship relaunched by Pécresse – The HuffPost

AP Photo / Jean-Francois Badias

POLICY – This is not a direct statement, but it is seen to be. This Wednesday, December 22, the entourage of Valerie Pécresse told AFP that candidate LR forpresidential election was willing to debate with its competitors. All? Not really. “With candidates having their sponsorships,” said his team.

“We are not intended to serve as a stepping stone for candidates looking for a breath, nor to intervene in the current wild primary between Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour,” insisted his campaign team, while the candidates for the presidential election have until early March to submit their sponsorships. A vision of things which, unsurprisingly, has made a leap among those who have trouble collecting the 500 signatures.

“Hey Valérie Pécresse, isn’t it, by chance, that you would be a little scared?” Responded the spokesperson for the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, while Marine Le Pen has not yet obtained the assurance of having all of its sponsorships. “Let’s see,” added his far-right competitor, Eric Zemmour, who is experiencing the same difficulties.

On this subject, the former journalist of the Figaro published this Tuesday, December 21, a video in which he addresses the mayors of France directly, asking them to support his candidacy. “It is even possible that I do not get the sponsorships as the system is designed to protect the major parties”, warns the former star of CNews.

Since 2017, the names of the sponsors are public

In his view, as in that of Marine Le Pen, the transparency introduced in 2017, which would lead local elected officials to give up putting their names alongside a sulphurous name for fear of possible reprisals, whether from administered or communities with which they work. “We demanded that their names not be published, because it does not help. Apart from allowing certain far-left associations to put pressure on them, ”recently lamented Marine Le Pen, who had completed her sponsorship only three days before the deadline during the previous presidential election.

In this year 2017, only 34% of the authorized elected representatives had brought their sponsorship. “In nearly three quarters of the cases, they were elected municipal and inter-municipal”, details the Directorate of legal and administrative information. In a letter revealed by Opinion, the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard solemnly asked the new president of the Association of Mayors of France, David Lisnard, to demand from Emmanuel Macron “the repeal of this provision which will end up genuinely distorting the democratic game in France”. As the deadline approaches – the collection of sponsorships will end no later than the sixth Friday before the first round – the debate continues to gain in intensity.

This Wednesday on France inter, Sébastien Chenu pleaded for example for a new system. “I wish that those who represent something in the opinion can express themselves”, a declared the spokesperson for the RN, believing that “it is not a sign of a very mature democracy to force candidates who weigh so heavily in public opinion to spend so much time looking for signatures”. Others, like Florian Philippot, would like us to switch to a “citizen sponsorship” system. An idea defended by rebellious France for several years, through the “popular investiture” and which was among the recommendations of the Jospin commission in 2012.

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