Gauthier Delomez
modified to
09:10, February 22, 2022
France risks “a democratic tsunami” if three of the declared presidential candidates – Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen – do not obtain sponsorships. This is the declaration of François Bayrou, president of the MoDem, who launched an initiative a few weeks ago, the “sponsorship bank”, which must convince mayors to give their signature to a candidate well placed in the polls, but who struggles to present themselves. “What is striking in French society is the extreme distrust of citizens with regard to institutions”, he first hammered Tuesday in Europe Morning.
“Democracy must guarantee the honesty of consultations”
“When there is a situation of mistrust like this, the question is that our democracy must at least guarantee (to these candidates) the honesty of the consultations”, continued the high commissioner for the plan at the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk. In the count of the Constitutional Council of February 17, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has 370 signatures, 366 for Marine Le Pen and 291 for Éric Zemmour. The common point of these three candidates is that they are all credited with more than 10% of voting intentions in certain polls. But, they are far from the 500 sponsorships required before March 4, the deadline for the harvest.
François Bayrou specifies that this Tuesday, his website will have 120 participating mayors. “They want to guarantee that democracy is transparent, that even people with whom they profoundly disagree can come forward, because that’s democracy,” said the mayor of Pau. He added that these mayors do not want to be seen as supporters of these candidates. In reality, “all those who are registered there want a democratic guarantee, but not to be engaged against their will”, continued François Bayrou.
Mélenchon penalized by Roussel’s candidacy
If there are seven working days left for the collection of sponsorships, the High Commissioner for Planning said he was not “sure” of the result of the operation. François Bayrou was one of the first to mention this democratic problem of the lack of sponsorship for these three candidates. According to him, for example, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is unable to collect signatures because of the support of elected Communists for the PCF candidate, Fabien Roussel. “The last time, they signed for Mélenchon. This time, they withdrew this support, and this is perhaps one of the explanations that we see there”, analyzed the president of the Modem.
“It’s up to the French to choose”, replied François Bayrou, from a distance, to Fabien Roussel who assured Monday in Europe Morning not wanting elected Communists to give their sponsorships to far-right candidates. “Candidates who do not carry democratic values, there are from all sides,” he continued. “I am in absolutely frank opposition with (these three candidates), and however, we have the responsibility of guaranteeing that this democracy can be considered by the French as their instrument”, underlined the president of the Modem, support of Emmanuel Macron.
Democracy is finally for François Bayrou “the only way we have found for the fractures to be reduced a little, for the confrontations to simply change into controversies, and so that we do not have civil war in the country.”