The 2022 presidential election should take place on April 10 and 24, these dates constituting the best of the two options on the table, we learned on Wednesday in the entourage of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.
The dates of the presidential election “will be confirmed by the Council of Ministers on June 30,” it was added. The entourage of Gerald Darmanin explained that “in accordance with article 7 of the Constitution which strictly regulates the election dates of the President of the Republic, two options are on the table: April 10 and 24 or April 17 and May 1 “.
Marine Le Pen wants to change the dates
However, the same source added, “the April 17 and May 1 option has many drawbacks: two areas on vacation for the first and second rounds. In addition, the second round would be held during a public holiday during which demonstrations are traditionally organized ”.
But for Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally and candidate for the Elysee, it is necessary to “change these dates” because they fall during the holidays and risk provoking again a demobilization of the electorate. “These dates were chosen, like a whole series of regional things, to distract the French from an essential election,” she accused on France Inter.
“Not by chance”, for Xavier Bertrand
“There we put the first round the day the Paca region and the Hauts-de-France region are on vacation. And the second Sunday, everyone will be on vacation, ”said the member for Pas-de-Calais. “Do you think (…) that it is likely to mobilize the voters to position a second round of the presidential election when France is on vacation? She insisted.
The president of Hauts-de-France (ex-LR) Xavier Bertrand, also a candidate for the Elysee, also criticized the timing of this “government indiscretion”. “She did not arrive there by chance this information on the date of the presidential election, do not you think that it could have waited for Monday or Tuesday, this government indiscretion? “, He denounced on Europe 1, specifying that” in political life, I guarantee you that I absolutely do not believe in coincidences “.
According to him, “all this also contributes to abstention” because we are “telling us: the second round of the regional, it is not that important, because the presidential, it is there, it is everything. right now “.