Marlène Schiappa, a minister campaigning for La République en Marche. – CELINE BREGAND / SIPA
- La République en Marche is approaching the regional and departmental elections of June 20 and 27 with modest ambition.
- In some regions, such as Ile-de-France, LREM campaigns in particular on sovereign themes such as security and secularism, two areas that do not directly fall under regional competence.
- The involvement of a third of the government in this campaign is also helping to nationalize these local elections, in the hope of boosting the results at the polls.
10:25 am is the excitement in the campaign HQ of The Republic on the march for the regional elections, in the heart of Paris. The walkers are busy for the last sound tests, light spot settings and speech details… Marlène Schiappa, Minister of the Interior and departmental candidate in Paris, has decided to organize a digital meeting alongside the head of the list for Ile-de-France, Laurent Saint-Martin, less than two weeks before the first round.
Filmed and transmitted live to connected activists and sympathizers on Monday, this 2.0 meeting is centered on secularism, a theme that is not yet not at the heart of the region’s prerogatives. A choice all the less trivial as it is the only thematic meeting organized by LREM in this campaign, before a public meeting scheduled for June 12 in Vincennes.
Defeat oppositions
For a good hour, the speakers follow one another at the desk to talk about secularism in education, in transport. Some measures will figure well in the regional program of LREM, such as training for associations. But for the presidential party, this meeting is above all an opportunity to defeat opposition and position itself on a subject considered a priority for the 2022 presidential election. according to polls.
“We are the only clear list on secularism”, introduces Laurent Saint-Martin before quickly giving the floor to Marlène Schiappa. The minister draws a pike for each opposition party, tackling the National Rally “Who wants to prohibit Jews from wearing the kippah in the street”, the outgoing Valérie Pécresse
“Who abolished the contraception pass under pressure of members of La Manif pour tous “, or even the” complacency “of Europe Ecologie Les Verts,” ready to finance associations such as
the CCIF in Grenoble and
Mili Gorus in Strasbourg “.
“I do not understand well that we are campaigning on secularism …”
“Without the words of Audrey Pulvar on single-sex meetings, I might not even be a candidate,” even insists the minister, who says she has launched a campaign to talk about secularism and security. “Carrying out a general campaign like Bardella does, simply focusing on security, is to deceive the French,” denounces the party leadership. Far from the Parisian HQ, the spotlight put on these two themes is puzzling. “I don’t quite understand why we are campaigning on skills that are not from the region, such as security and even less secularism. Already people do not always understand what the region is for… ”sighs a walker, who answers us between two towing sessions in the countryside.
In addition to the regal, the majority also slipped the theme of economic recovery in the programs of all its regional candidates. “It materializes differently depending on the region,” says one at LREM. “It makes sense to have a national vision for the regions, because the skills of the regions overlap with those of the State”, assumes Jean-Baptiste Moreau, spokesperson for the movement.
Ministers to publicize the LREM lists and a tour of Castex
The involvement of 15 ministers, or a third of the members of the government, also aims to publicize the local LREM lists, for a party lacking territorial roots. Not to mention that Prime Minister Jean Castex, who has already personally meddled in the alliance concluded with the outgoing president in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, begins this Wednesday a tour of support for the majority candidates. LREM thus cherishes the hope of boosting its campaign and its scores, after having suffered setbacks in all the polls since the start of the quinquennium (with the exception of the legislative ones).
“Very often it is the opposition that nationalizes these polls, to sanction the government,” recalls Bruno Cautrès, research director at CNRS. This time the majority is also engaged in it, “by sending its ministers to the front, by not talking about the role of regional and departmental executives”. “Emmanuel Macron has already stepped over the polls, it is a non-campaign which in my opinion should result in low participation and a mixed record for LREM”, continues the political scientist at Cevipof. The results of June 20 and 27 can also be analyzed at the national level, at the risk of emphasizing the local difficulties of the presidential party, less than a year before the presidential election.