Sponsorships for the presidential election: Bayrou fears “a democratic tsunami”


France risks “a democratic tsunami” if Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Éric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen cannot stand in the presidential election, for lack of sufficient sponsorship.

On March 4, the Constitutional Council will announce the names of the candidates for the presidential election who have managed to collect the 500 necessary sponsorships. As of February 17, only six candidates had obtained them: Valérie Pécresse, Emmanuel Macron, Anne Hidalgo, Nathalie Arthaud, Fabien Roussel and Jean Lassalle. Which would leave three candidates well placed in the polls on the floor: Marine Le Pen (366 sponsorships), Eric Zemmour (291) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (370). The latter has already obtained media sponsorship from the LR mayor of Cannes David Lisnard, also president of the Association of Mayors of France, “out of a republican spirit”. “If Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Marine Le Pen or Eric Zemmour could not present themselves, it would be a serious attack on democracy,” David Lisnard said in a video.

“Extreme mistrust”

Invited on Europe 1, the former Minister of Justice François Bayrou goes even further in the semantic expression evoking “a democratic tsunami”, if one of the three contenders for the Elysée could not, in fine, present themselves. The president of the Modem launched “a bank of sponsorships” to convince recalcitrant mayors and elected officials to affix their signature to a candidate, for fear, most often, of the consequences on future elections. The website he has set up will have up to 120 participating mayors, he announced. “They want to guarantee that democracy is transparent, that even people with whom they disagree profoundly can come forward, because that’s democracy,” explained the mayor of Pau. “All those who are registered there want a democratic guarantee, but not to be engaged against their will,” he continued. For François Bayrou, if ever one of the three candidates could not present themselves, this would accentuate “the extreme distrust of the citizens with regard to the institutions”.

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