Candidates start the final sprint towards the election

After the holiday season, the presidential candidates begin their final sprint towards the Elysee Palace on Monday, for which they will have to meet many challenges, starting with those of the health crisis and abstention.

Less than 100 days before the poll, on April 10 and 21, the fear is that the epidemic situation will anesthetize the campaign and fuel the abstention, which had already broken records in the regional regions of June. In the meantime, the candidates resume their pilgrim’s staff on Monday to approach a month of January often decisive to clarify the balance of power.

Macron and the challenge of re-election

Taken at the head in the polls, Emmanuel Macron expressed resolutely optimistic wishes on Friday on health, the economy and its balance sheet but also “for 2022”. Without going so far as to confirm his candidacy which no one doubts. His renewal would be a feat: he would become the first President of the Republic reelected by universal suffrage except cohabitation.

Emmanuel Macron should make the presidency of the European Union by France a campaign axis. It will host the College of 27 European Commissioners and its President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris on Thursday and Friday. The coming weeks will focus on the management of the pandemic of course but also “France of all possibilities”, explains the Elysee, with trips around the major themes of action to show what has been achieved.

Pécresse and second place

The nomination in early December of Valérie Pécresse by LR propelled the boss of the Île-de-France region to the first round just behind Emmanuel Macron, according to recent polls. A dynamic that she intends to keep to seduce a right-wing electorate who could be tempted either by Emmanuel Macron or by Eric Zemmour. LR president Christian Jacob urged activists on Saturday to “rally” behind the candidate.

First woman candidate for the Elysee for the right, Valérie Pécresse will begin the new year with a trip to Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) on the theme of violence against women, before speaking regal in the region Thursday.

On the far right, overcome the division

Valérie Pécresse is closely followed in the polls by far-right candidates. The arrival of Eric Zemmour in the presidential race has upset the plans of Marine Le Pen, who was previously given in the second round but remains in front of the former columnist. The two candidates of the RN and Reconquest compete to challenge Emmanuel Macron, the first seeking to embody a demonized RN.

Marine Le Pen will devote his first trip of 2022 to the lands tempted by the Zemmour vote, in particular Béziers (Hérault) on Friday, where the mayor Robert Ménard will formalize his sponsorship, and Perpignan (Eastern Pyrenees). A “presidential convention” will follow on the 15th in Reims in front of several thousand activists.

Eric Zemmour will campaign on Friday in Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) where he will hold a more modest public meeting.

On the left, union or “clarity”

On the left, where no candidate is yet able to compete, the skimming has not (yet?) Taken place. On the one hand, the socialist Anne Hidalgo and the former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira will continue to push for union, supporting the “Popular Primary” whose vote of more than 300,000 registered will take place from January 27 to 30.

The first, in difficulty, should hold a meeting on January 22 to try to appear as the unifier. The second will speed up travel, starting next week, preparing a possible candidate announcement in mid-January.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fabien Roussel (PCF) and Yannick Jadot, them, will continue in their corridor, convinced that one needs “clarity” rather than getting bogged down in complicated alliances. The LFI leader, fourth in the 2017 presidential election, first on the left without widening the gap in the polls, will be on France Inter Monday morning and is betting big on a meeting announced as innovative on January 16 in Nantes. The ecologist will try, for his part, to relaunch a campaign that is skating with a trip to the youth Wednesday in Bordeaux and his wishes to the press on Friday.