After the publication this Wednesday of our investigation into the Republican membership file, the party responded in a press release, denouncing a supposed “attempt to destabilize”. Without having obviously taken the trouble to read it well.
Move on… A few hours after the publication of the survey of Release demonstrating that the Les Républicains (LR) primary this fall was marred by fraudulent maneuvers aimed at inflating the electorate – and before the evening appearance of its candidate on the political program of BFM TV – it is by press release that the LR management responded. For the party of Valérie Pécresse, “the method used by Release in this pseudo “investigation”, an investigation based on approximations, innuendoes and unfounded allegations, clearly aims to delegitimize the Republican candidate for the presidential election”. Denouncing a supposed “attempt to destabilize” of the Pécresse campaign, Christian Jacob, president of LR, “asked his lawyer to seize the public prosecutor of Paris” vs Release.
We maintain all of our information and recall that we conducted a contradictory investigation, as demonstrated by the numerous quotes from LR officials and the party leadership in the text of our investigation. Many of the facts stated in the press release are already explained in our article, including the details of the “numerous security measures” framing the vote of Congress. We are also surprised by several differences between the written responses provided by LR, on different occasions, at the beginning of the week, prior to publication, and those indicated on Wednesday in this press release. The party leadership does not seem to have read our survey correctly: it mentions the members named “Douglas”. We indicate however that the name of the dog has been changed in order to preserve the anonymity of its owner and we do not write that he took part in the vote.
Hinder freedom of expression
Finally, we note that LR does not return to all the maneuvers highlighted in our article. Release asked his counsel to examine the conditions under which this press release could be sued as defamatory against him. This process also appears to us as an attempt to muzzle the press and hinder freedom of expression.
Until this press release, LR had sent – alone – Senator Philippe Bas to the media front. None of the heavyweights of the party responded to requests from the media. The former president of the supervisory body of this primary, was first confused on Public Senate, explaining, for example that“we can always find people who died between their contributions and the time of the vote”. Except that some members were reinstated years after their death verified by Release. Another daring defense of Bas a little later on BFM TV: the dog “Douglas” mentioned by Release could not vote “because he cannot read the code number sent by SMS to his mobile phone”. What to attract many mockeries, such as that of the general rapporteur of the budget of the National Assembly, the deputy LREM Laurent Saint-Martin: “The dog can’t read the code sent by SMS, OK. On the other hand, the fact that he has a mobile phone does not seem to disturb Philippe Bas more than that.
Jokes and mockery on the networks
All day, the canine has been the subject of jokes and mockery on the networks. The most active camp was that of Eric Zemmour. “The animalist party dreamed of it, Valérie Pécresse did it: the animal vote is therefore finally counted”, mocked the far-right candidate. Response from the animalist candidate, Hélène Thouy: “The animal cause is a serious subject! Thank you Eric Zemmour for not trampling on the values of millions of citizens and the fundamental issues it carries! Suspicions of fraud at the LR congress are however blessed bread for the Zemmour camp, while Pécresse is in difficulty in new polls. The deputy of Loir-et-Cher Guillaume Peltier, freshly joined in Zemmour, published on Twitter a photo of him and his dog “Milo” to be ironic about the rallying of “Douglas” to the former columnist of CNews… “Impossible, retorted the deputy LR Pierre-Henri Dumont. Unlike you Guillaume Peltier, dogs are faithful. Atmosphere. On the left, we were more discreet on Wednesday evening. The national secretary of EE-LV, Julien Bayou, opponent of Valérie Pécresse in the regional of 2021, simply judged the investigation of Liberation “overwhelming[e]» for candidate LR.
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