More than nine months after Emmanuel Macron’s presidential victory, it’s time to take stock. Several of the twelve candidates for the Elysée have been sanctioned by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Funding (CNCCFP), which has also issued reports.
Nevertheless, the campaign accounts were all approved. Eleven of them were published on Friday at Official newspaperMarine Le Pen contesting before the Constitutional Council the invalidation of more than 300,000 euros of her campaign expenses.
Emmanuel Macron
The CNCCFP cut 100,000 euros from the reimbursement of its campaign expenses. Reason: the publication of his presidential candidacy on the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Élysée, then respectively followed by “7.9 million and 4.3 million subscribers”. “He thus benefited from a large audience made up of public means”, an “indirect advantage” and “prohibited”, according to the organization. The CNCCFP also decided to exclude several costs, including some 30,000 euros paid to a photographer, a bonus that must be paid by the presidential party, according to the Commission.
On the side of the candidate’s campaign team, it is emphasized that the amounts pinned only concern 1% of the costs incurred. The Commission also did not establish a “gender mix” between the activities of the president and the candidate, welcomes the Renaissance party. She did not find any irregularities with consulting firms last year.
Eric Zemmour
The far-right candidate Eric Zemmour, who came fourth in the presidential election, received the largest fixed penalty, 200,000 euros. The Commission considered that thanks to his program “Face à l’info” on CNews, he had benefited, when he had not yet officially declared himself, from “a promotion of his personality”.
She also criticized him for not having paid royalties, estimated at 16,000 euros, when he had used, without authorization, images in his application video.
Marine Le Pen
She is the only candidate whose accounts, although approved, have not been published. The CNCCFP awaits the decision of the Constitutional Council, seized by the National Rally which disputes the invalidation of more than 300,000 euros of its campaign expenses.
The Commission has indeed rejected the “flocking and unflocking” expenses of twelve coaches rented as part of the campaign.
Jean-Luc Melenchon
The CNCCFP has decided to reduce the “transport costs of the official campaign in Overseas” by 12,178 euros.
She also cut 15,000 euros from the reimbursement of her campaign expenses, believing that “the large number” of stickers printed on occasion, 1.2 million, was not justified.
Valerie Pécresse
The Commission imposed a penalty of 15,000 euros on candidate LR, who did not reach the threshold of 5% of the votes cast and who appealed for donations to reimburse her campaign expenses. The organization noted in particular that “eleven room rental expenses (…) were not included in the campaign account”.
The CNCCFP also focused on the role of consulting firms, its campaign manager having been a consultant for one of them. “The Commission notes that, as it stands, it has no element likely to call into question the content and scope of the statements of the candidate and the campaign manager”.
Yannick Jadot
No serious facts concerning the candidate EELV, but the CNCCFP still notes “omitted”, “insufficiently justified” expenses and “non-electoral” expenses.
Among this last category, the Commission notes “a Navigo pass expense accounted for twice for 113 euros”, “a precariousness bonus paid to an employee for 579 euros when in this case it was not justified” or even “the rental of an Airbnb apartment to house campaign employees for an amount of 6,048 euros”.
Philippe Poutou
The accounts of Philippe Poutou, NPA candidate, have also been validated. Nevertheless, some campaign expenses were rejected by the Commission, which justifies: “The candidate benefited, for the organization of campaign meetings, from the provision of municipal meeting rooms and rooms in higher education establishments for which he has not produced a certificate of free provision of these public resources under identical conditions for all candidates who request them”.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan
The candidate Debout la France “sent his program to a third party, as part of his presidential campaign, using the means of postage of the services of the National Assembly”, notes the CNCCFP. Three times Nicolas Dupont-Aignan would thus have used the material means of franking the mail of the National Assembly for the sending of his political program.
However, according to the electoral code, “no candidate may use, directly or indirectly, the allowances and benefits in kind made available to their members by the parliamentary assemblies to cover the costs related to the exercise of their mandate”.
No sanction for these four candidates
Among the other candidates, four of them did not suffer any financial penalty. They are the iconoclast Jean Lassalle, Fabien Roussel (PCF), Anne Hidalgo (PS) and Nathalie Arthaud (LO).