In the home stretch of her campaign, the LR candidate made a whirlwind visit to the island on Monday, where she took advantage of her few hours there to meet the inhabitants and praise her measures for purchasing power.
“I always save the best for last!” Arrival Monday around 2 p.m. in Pointe-à-Pitre, return scheduled for 8:30 p.m., candidate LR at the presidential election led her visit at a brisk pace: meeting with the president of the region Ary Chalus, visit to a sugar refinery, wandering followed by a public meeting… In Moule, on the east coast of the island, Valérie Pécresse led campaign in the pure Chiraquian tradition, entering the shops — “I want to buy everything” -, chatting with a young bodybuilding enthusiast – “It’s heavy!-, even settling in the passenger seat of a car that had just stopped at his height to take a selfie with the driver.
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An ease which recalled that displayed on Sunday during his meeting at Porte de Versailles in Paris, and which contrasted with the more technical trips or speeches of his start to the campaign. Onlookers seem to appreciate, on the Place du Moule where she is accompanied by the local LR committee. “Would a woman president be good?”she asks a group of men discussing on a bench. “It would be more responsible”replies a man in a striped T-shirt. “Not just any huh, make no mistake, not Marine Le Pen!”launches Valérie Pécresse.
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A week after the hectic arrival of the candidate of the National Rally, it was important for the candidate LR to show the warm welcome reserved for her by the West Indies. Concert of drums at the airport, jams and jellies as gifts, young person assuring that he will vote for her “with two hands, with four hands on Saturday”: “We would like it to last another three weeks!”, launches the candidate whose campaign has experienced a number of air pockets. As for the quality of the reception, “it’s a good omen”according to Valérie Pécresse, who tops out at around 10% in the polls, far behind Emmanuel Macron and RN candidate Marine Le Pen.
“And Emmanuel Macron, what did he do in Guadeloupe?”
The candidate LR does not hesitate to attack the head of state, throwing to passers-by in Le Moule: “And Emmanuel Macron, what did he do in Guadeloupe?”. “Promises he didn’t keep”replies one. “He fired the hospital workers”, assures the other. In this department particularly affected by the high cost of living, the candidate pleads for her flagship measure “3% increase in wages from June and 10% over the five-year term”. But she also promises that“we need a basket of 600 basic necessities at controlled prices”. “You have low salaries and you have the most expensive prices, it is not possible with 30% of Guadeloupeans who live below the poverty line”, she assures the evening, during a meeting with the sparse public. A little earlier, after her visit to the sugar factory, she had also promised “one stop shop to make real infrastructure investments” in the Overseas.
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Seven hours of visit for 17 hours of plane, the visit was a tour de force. But there is no question of not going through the overseas box: “I had promised to come, I kept my commitments, because I still want”, assures the candidate LR, who had to cancel her visit scheduled for March 5 and 6 in Reunion because of the war in Ukraine. The president of the Ile-de-France region also filters, during this Guadeloupe stopover, under the presidential candidate when she explains: “For six years we have made partnerships with the Overseas Territories so that there is territorial continuity. I believe in it a lot because the Overseas Territories are a source of wealth”.
In the 2017 presidential election, Emmanuel Macron came out on top in the first round in Guadeloupe with 30.2% of the vote ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (24.1%) and François Fillon (14.5%).