After Eric Woerth on Wednesday, new faces from the right announce their support for Emmanuel Macron. This is the case of Natacha Bouchart, LR mayor of Calais and close to Nicolas Sarkozy. Other names circulate, including those of Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Maud Fontenoy.
The brain drain continues. After former Budget Minister Eric Woerth on Wednesday, several names have been added to the list of former Sarkozyists who are dropping Valérie Pécresse to find a place in the sun of Macronism. Candidate LR, who is betting on her meeting on Sunday at the Zenith in Paris to relaunch a sluggish campaign, is being dropped on all sides. Last defection: Natacha Bouchart. In an interview at Figarothe mayor of Calais announces her support for Emmanuel Macron, “the most likely to win the next presidential election”.
Away from it all “partisanship”she swears, it is the defense of “general interest” who animates it. Member of the right-wing party “since 1979”, Natacha Bouchart is close to Nicolas Sarkozy. Another Sarkozyist, Nora Berra, declares this Friday that she will vote for Macron. On BFMTV, the one who was Secretary of State in charge of health between 2010 and 2012 praises the “revitalization of the country” triggered according to her by the outgoing president. Catherine Vautrin, president of the metropolis of Reims, former minister of Raffarin and support of Sarkozy in the primary of the right in 2016, also joins the ranks of the outgoing head of state.
A return of Christine Lagarde?
New war prizes are expected by the macronists in the coming days. In this little game, the name of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, close to Alain Juppé, is on all languages. Nothing too surprising. In the European elections of 2019, the former Prime Minister of Jacques Chirac had called to vote for the LREM list, explaining “Adhere to the President’s report, vision and project”. Navigator Maud Fontenoy is not far from setting sail for Macron, reports the Parisian. At the forefront of the fight for the oceans, Fontenoy is an early supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy. She campaigned for the right-wing primary in 2016.
always in the Parisiana member of LREM begins to dream. “It shouldn’t be surprising that at some point a guy like Luc Chatel or even Rachida Dati also comes out in favor of Macron.” The hypothesis of a return of Christine Lagarde on the national scene would not be excluded either. Some imagine the former president of the IMF at Matignon if Macron were re-elected. Chatel at National Education, Dati at Justice and Lagarde at Economy have all three been heavyweights in the Sarkozyist system put in place at the head of state between 2007 and 2012.
Pécresse and Sarkozy meet this Friday
A handful of former Sarkozy supporters now find their happiness at Macron. And this is not unusual. But what does the former president himself think? His silence embarrasses the tenors of the Republicans. Worse, he did not have only tender words with regard to Valérie Pécresse. In public, he says nothing. But privately he wouldn’t hold back, telling himself “doubtful” on the campaign of the candidate of his party, even “skeptical” and “severe”according to the Figaro. The two, who have never been best pals, are due to meet this Friday.
For Pécresse, the blow is hard. She seeks, since she was chosen to represent the right in the presidential election, to differentiate herself from Emmanuel Macron, explaining in particular to be “firmer on the regal”. A strategy that does not entirely convince, as transfers to the outgoing president are legion. The macronists, they revel in the situation. They feel like they have the wind at their backs. Even if, for the most part, these rallies are not a big surprise.