The president of the MoDem, François Bayrou, announced this Friday that his “sponsorship bank” initiative had garnered the support of 365 signatories, a reserve a priori sufficient to guarantee Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, struggling in their harvest initials, to compete in the presidential election. “We have reached 365 signatures, which is remarkable, because it shows that there is a democratic need in France: when we propose precise and concrete answers, then the mayors, the elected officials, as citizens, respond and engage”, considered François Bayrou.
“It will be a decision of each of the signatories, personally, but such a number should allow several of the candidates concerned to reach the 500 mark”, he added. The boss of the centrist party must hold a meeting on Friday at the end of the afternoon with the signatories – around 300 mayors, as well as parliamentarians and departmental and regional advisers – to proceed with the distribution of their sponsorships, in “an absolutely civic where each elected official assumes his responsibilities”.
“Rescue” candidates considered legitimate
According to the latest count from the Constitutional Council published on Thursday, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour are missing at least between 80 and 90, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon, struggling for a while, finally collected the necessary number of signatures. Initially planned by François Bayrou to “save” the candidates considered legitimate, that is to say credited with at least 10% in the voting intentions, the mechanism could benefit other candidates – Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, François Asselineau, Philippe Poutou or Christiane Taubira are in particular in difficulty – at the discretion of the signatories, given their large number.
“I am absolutely certain that we are in our role of guarantor of democracy by allowing the candidacy, including of those whom we will fight the most”, argued the High Commissioner for Planning, while each volunteer will initial a declaration stipulating that this “sponsorship in no way constitutes political support for the candidate concerned”.
A democratic approach above all
“It’s a completely new approach, but one that has a deep democratic meaning: all those who subscribe to this approach think and know that democracy must allow pluralism of expression, which does not mean approval of all the actors in the debate”, he added, underlining the great political diversity of the sponsors.
The mayor of Pau has also indicated that he would also grant his sponsorship to a candidate in difficulty. In addition to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Valérie Pécresse, Emmanuel Macron, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Fabien Roussel, Jean Lassalle and Nathalie Arthaud have already collected at least 500 sponsorships.