The more the fateful date approaches, the more the concern of certain candidates grows. On March 4, the contenders for the Élysée must have deposited their 500 sponsorships of elected officials, under penalty of not being able to campaign. And this year, it is no longer just the small candidates who are struggling to collect the precious signatures.
For the moment, only six candidates are guaranteed to be able to present themselves. In the lead, the Republican candidate Valerie Pécresse close to 2,000 referrals. Behind her, Emmanuel Macron, with more than 1,300 official signatures. Note that the current president will have had his sponsorships even though he has still not declared himself a candidate. Then comes the socialist Anne Hidalgothe communist Fabien Roussel and Jean Lassalle. All three have obtained their ticket for the presidential election, even if they are far from being the best placed in the voting intentions.
Conversely, some “great” candidates seem to be experiencing difficulties. Of the five candidates who exceed the symbolic bar of 10% of voting intentions, three still do not have their 500 sponsorships. The candidate of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, with only 366 signatures validated by the Constitutional Council, speaks ” of a democratically terrifying situation » and says to himself « extremely worried “.
Same on the side ofEric Zemmour which, with 291 sponsorships, claims to have ” no certainty on his participation in the presidential election. The Reconquest candidate has multiplied himself, since the beginning of his campaign, the phone calls to convince the mayors to sponsor him. And then the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, at the head of 370 signatures, says he has trouble ” calm down “.
Unexpected support
This Sunday, Jean-Luc Melenchon was also surprised to receive a rather unexpected sponsorship: that of the boss of the association of mayors of France, the Republican David Lisnard. A right-wing elected official who sponsors a left-wing candidate, not ” out of political conviction “, he explains, but” in the name of democracy “. The mayor of Cannes who also recalls that ” sponsorships are not worth support and that we must ensure democratic and republican free expression “.
Another initiative, that of François Bayrou. The president of the MoDem and close to Emmanuel Macron wants to create a bank of sponsorships to better distribute the signatures between candidates. Eighty local elected officials had already responded on Monday morning.
Pressure on mayors
To explain these difficulties in obtaining sponsorships, certain candidates evoke the pressures that the mayors would undergo. Particularly since the last presidential election of 2017 and the obligation, voted under François Hollande, to make public the names of the mayors who support a candidate. These mayors would have become victims of a kind of blackmail, denounces Éric Zemmour: “ François Hollande put the mayors under pressure from political parties, regions, departments who tell them “if you choose Zemmour, there are no subsidies for your swimming pool, we will break your municipal majority”. »
Same thing on the side of Marine Le Pen who, she, directly accuses elected Republicans of sponsoring Éric Zemmour to put her in difficulty. To fight against these supposed excesses, Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposes that citizens can sponsor a candidate themselves. Marine Le Pen wants to return to anonymous sponsorships.
Too many candidates on the same niche
The other reason that would make obtaining 500 signatures more difficult is the fragmentation of the political offer. In question: too many candidates on the same niche. On the far right, the unexpected arrival of Éric Zemmour in the political game takes market share from Marine Le Pen in terms of voting intentions of course, but also in terms of sponsorships.
Same observation on the far left. Five years ago, the Communist Party did not present a candidate. In 2022, Fabien Roussel has benefited, so far, from a good dynamic in the polls, around 5%, and is harming Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Logically, this is also felt on the number of sponsorships.
But beware, we still do not know how many candidates have actually received from sponsorship promises. And a share of alarmist disinformation, on purpose, is far from unthinkable. A way of provoking a democratic start on the part of mayors and local elected officials. As of Tuesday, however, things should clear up a little more with the publication of the last official count of the Constitutional Council.
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