While the President of the Republic multiplies travel in France, the opposition accuses him to campaign with the means of the state.
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He is not a candidate yet but he has his sponsorships. Emmanuel Macron has already received 529 sponsorships of elected officials, according to the statement updated, Thursday, February 3 by the Constitutional Council on its website . Either above the 500 sponsorship bar necessary to be able to appear in the presidential election.
According to the surroundings of the head of state in the world, these sponsorships are also distributed in thirty different departments, another condition sine qua non to be a candidate. At two months of the presidential election – the first round takes place on April 10 – this is an more opportunity for the opposition to criticize the ambiguous status of “almost candidate” by Mr. Macron, accusing him with the means of the state while delaying on a possible announcement.
In a regional daily interview The voice of the north , Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron has indeed confirmed that the time his candidacy for the presidential has not come yet. “I first have the obsession that the acute phase of the epidemic and the peak of the current geopolitical crisis are behind us, he explained. I can not reasonably explain to the French that I’m going M ‘ Adonating at this important democratic time, while I told them that I would be president until the end and we have a crisis on the Ukrainian border that threatens our collective security. “
” Masked candidate ”
But while the president multiplies travel in France – in the hollow and the Haute-Vienna last week, in the Hauts-de-France Wednesday … -, the boss of the party the Republicans, Christian Jacob, criticized a “Not far from the diversion of public funds”. “The President will not be able to hide eternally like a masked candidate,” judge, for his part, the President (LR) of the Senate, Gérard Larcher. For its part, the ecologist candidate, Yannick Jadot, is frustrated not to see Emmanuel Macron officially return to the field. “This President of the Republic, entrenched at the Elysée, or in very organized outings, is more feverish than serene in this presidential election,” he said.
One way to push Mr. Macron to declare his candidacy. But the head of state seems to be determined to take advantage of his status to the end, including refusing to debate with his opponents before the first round of the presidential election. Sunday, the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal, said “skeptical” on the usefulness of such a debate for the tenant of the Elysee, on the grounds that he would end up on the defensive “Twelve candidates” eager to load it.
Valérie Pécresse Second in the sponsorship race
Behind Emmanuel Macron, it is the candidate LR, Valérie Pécresse, who, to date, has obtained the most sponsorships with 324 elected, in front of Anne Hidalgo who displays 266. On their side, the candidates of extreme Right start timidly with 58 sponsorships for Eric Zemmour and 35 for Marine Le Pen.
As in 2017, the Constitutional Council publishes twice a week – on Tuesdays and Thursdays – the number of referrals received and validated for each candidate. The elected officials have until Friday, March 4th, 18 hours, to send the Constitutional Council, by post, the form and the formal envelope they will receive from the State. The President of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, will proclaim the final list of candidates on Monday, March 7, about one month before the first round, that of April 10th.