The battle on the right is launched, but with how many battalions? Xavier Bertrand’s participation in the Congress of Republicans marked the end of the casting. The boss of Hauts-de-France will have, at the beginning of December, five competitors to obtain the nomination of the party: Valérie Pécresse, Michel Barnier, Eric Ciotti, Philippe Juvin and Denis Payre, if they gather the 250 sponsorships required. On the ground in recent days, everyone is trying to mobilize their camp. Because it is indeed the LR activists who, from December 2 to 6, will appoint their champion for the 2022 presidential election. For several weeks, the party has also experienced an influx of memberships, which could upset the ballot …
A 10% increase in memberships since the end of September
“After having eaten black bread for four years, the party has once again become an essential political force”, greets Daniel Fasquelle, the LR mayor of Le Touquet and political advisor to Michel Barnier. “We are now at more than 87,000 members up to date, so we have an increase of 10% since the end of September, or nearly 9,000 new members,” adds the treasurer of the party. A significant increase, which should increase in the coming days. To the point of significantly changing the balance of power in early December?
“We are not in the same situation as in the open primary of 2016, where anyone could pay 2 euros to participate, even sometimes people of the left. This time, it is indeed activists who commit themselves by paying a contribution of 30 euros ”, relativizes Daniel Fasquelle. The candidates therefore have a double objective: to campaign with the 101 LR federations and to convince right-wing supporters to take their card before the deadline, November 16.
With the returns of Bertrand and Pécresse, the return of their support?
” The fact that Valerie Pécresse announces his membership in LR will be a trigger, wants to believe Eric Pauget, LR deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes. Many activists and elected representatives of Libres! were not or no longer included at LR. The number of memberships will therefore continue, I can already see it in my constituency, ”adds this close to the boss of Ile-de-France. The micro-party of Valérie Pécresse, created in 2017, called on its 10,000 claimed members to take their card as quickly as possible from LR, if they did not already have it. Same strategy for Xavier Bertrand and his Manufacture, because the Northerner finally assured him that he was returning to his former party.
Among the pro-Barnier, however, we are far from panicking. “If there were tens of thousands of voters hidden in the micro-parties, that would be known,” quips Olivier Marleix, deputy for Eure-et-Loire and vice-president LR. “Those who return generally do so spontaneously, because they wish to participate in the vote.” Even calm with Daniel Fasquelle: “Everyone mobilizes their camp as much as possible, that’s quite normal. We also notice small surges of membership in the strongholds of the candidates in the running, in Paris. [Pécresse], in the Hauts-de-Seine [Juvin], in Savoie [Barnier] and in the Alpes-Maritimes [Ciotti]. “
These activists’ returns are already making one happy: the party itself. With 30 euros of contribution per member, the LR management will collect a tidy sum, which can be used in the future campaign.