She did not finally wait until the end of August, as her entourage hammered in recent weeks. Valérie Pécresse announced on Thursday, in an interview with Figaro, his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election to “restore French pride”. Reelected at the end of June at the head of Ile-de-France, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy is the second personality to formalize his candidacy on the right, after Xavier Bertrand. But why did Valérie Pécresse decide to accelerate now?
Not to be left behind by Xavier Bertrand
Launched in the presidential election for nearly a year now, Xavier Bertrand formalized his candidacy in March, for four months already. Taking advantage of the silence of the other top names, his supporters never stopped saying that the Northerner had killed the match on the right in the race for the Elysee Palace. “He made the hole, going over 18%, well ahead of the others, and that hole is going to get bigger. He is on the way to becoming the natural candidate, ”predicted one of them at the beginning of July, while the ex-LR is credited with 14 to 20% of voting intentions in surveys, a few points above rivals.
Valérie Pécresse is therefore out of the woods this week to prevent Xavier Bertrand from getting too far ahead during the summer, even if the candidate’s entourage tries to minimize. “She does not live her campaign to the rhythm of others. She jumps the hurdles, one after the other. It was initially focused on regional and, now, it traces its route to the Elysee, with trips every week on the territory ”, assures Florence Portelli, vice-president of Île-de-France.
To push for the organization of a primary
Still, the former Minister of the Budget is aware that The Republicans are launching at the end of August an opinion poll among supporters of right. The objective: to try to separate the opposing forces and to avoid a fratricidal war. By leaving too late, Valérie Pécresse took the risk of letting the sole Bertrand hypothesis impress people’s minds. His candidacy must generate a strong enough dynamic to push LR to organize a primary that the party leadership is trying by all means to avoid.
“Valérie Pécresse is not focused on it, but if there is ever a primary, she will go. Because the family of the right and the center must be united, and that it has never been afraid of competition, ”slips Florence Portelli. A spade addressed to Xavier Bertrand, who continues to assert that he would not participate in such a tie-breaking system.
On the set of TF1 Thursday evening, Valérie Pécresse has also started to put pressure on her opponent. “The open primary is on. There is a very good French team from the right and from the center. It is up to the French to determine the team captain. »And to add, mischievously. “In any case, I am vaccinated against the divisions of the right. In the past, they have made us suffer enough. “