The appointment of the French presidential election is approaching. The first round of voting will take place on April 10, 2022. The French will have to choose between twelve candidates, four women and eight men, including Emmanuel Macron, the outgoing president. The health crisis linked to Covid-19, then the war in Ukraine really changed the countryside, explain Valérie Gas, head of the political department and her deputy, Julien Chavanne in this episode.
Emmanuel Macron ended thefalse suspense of his candidacy, March 4i.e. just before the end of the sponsorship deposit and the announcement of the official list of candidates : “ It was a deliberate strategy from the start for Emmanuel Macron, to return to the campaign as late as possible, Explain Valerie Gas in News cookies “.
Several scenarios have been circulating, an announcement in January after the entry of the French presidency into the Council of the European Union, then February, once the health crisis subsided and the war in Ukraine also came to upset this agenda. ” Emmanuel Macron got caught at his own game, continues Valerie, and suddenly, he theorized the Macron 2022 version campaign. He is president above all because the war in Ukraine is still there “.
For his opponents, things are a little different. ” They were disappointed that he entered the arena so lateExplain, Julien Chavanne. There is a real dissatisfaction of those in any case who can apply for the second round. They continue to defend their positions, but to differentiate themselves from each other. Marine Le Pen (the candidate of the national rally) campaigned in reverse mirror to Éric Zemmour (the candidate of the Reconquest party)”.
The war in Ukraine really marked a turning point: This forces all the other candidates to position themselves says Valerie. Julian continues: They got stuck. How to hit the head of state who defends unity? Éric Zemmour was particularly weakened for his ambiguities with Vladimir Poutine “.
As with every election, fear of abstention is still very present even in the camp of the President of the Republic: “ It’s a bit like the double effect of this campaign, explains Valeriethat people say to themselves: in the end, I don’t really need to go and vote because anyway, he’s going to come back “. On the side of the opponents of the outgoing president, ” fear is on the side of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (candidate of France Insoumise) and Marine Le Pen, says Julien, because both draw their electorate from the popular categories which are those who abstain the most. Both also accuse Emmanuel Macron of being partly responsible for this possible abstention, because he does not campaign “.
This is the fourth time that Valérie Gas has followed a presidential campaign as a journalist, the second for Julien Chavanne and both also agree that the social networks are now campaign tools. ” Perhaps less than you would think, nuance Valérie, but it is certain that the candidates can no longer save themselves from being present there “. And Julien continues, Éric Zemmour has made it a real weapon of mobilization. Its activists are very active on the networks, they hunt in packs on Twitter “.
And when asked whether this changes the profession of political journalist, both are unanimous: “On social networks, reactions to the slightest political statement are instantaneous, we are at the end of the chain and we are forced to pedal. to keep up the pace.
►Also to watch: The campaign minute
Subscribe to “News Witnesses”
News cookies is available to listen to on all podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, TuneIn or any other application using the RSS feed.
If you like this podcast, give it 5 stars and post a comment on these applications so that it is visible and therefore even more listened to.