D-100. On April 10 and 24, voters will go to the polls. The year 2021 comes to an end and with it opens the presidential campaign. The attacks are already resuming, on the occasion of the traditional wishes to the French. This Friday, December 31, each contender at the Elysee Palace went there with his message posted on social networks. A mixture of thoughts to the nursing staff, of spikes addressed to the competitors and of snippets of program.
In a video montage posted Thursday evening, the head of state had taken a step ahead of his opponents before the wishes he will send this Friday evening on television. A mix of images of sports success, Thomas Pesquet and schoolchildren, but also of his travels, in Marseille or in French Polynesia. A clever mix of a president-candidate already in the campaign, concluded from a “Long live the Republic, and long live France” accompanied by applause.
Zemmour says “farewell” to Macron
Opposite, his opponents responded with video pellets spun on social networks throughout the day. Eric Zemmour drew the first, at 11 o’clock. “The coming year will be a very important year, one that will remain etched forever in the history of France”, began the candidate, a bust of Napoleon and some books placed behind him. The polemicist scratches a “Nightmarish five-year term made of a presidential nothingness without form or substance, of epidemic downgrading, of an uncontrolled pandemic, pervasive insecurity, delusional immigration and rampant Islamization.” Unrolling his tunes against the “politically correct”, the “censorship”, the “Politicians”, the néomaurrassien assures it: “2022 will be the year of the last chance”. And to conclude: “Let us leave behind doubt and bitterness. Goodbye weakness, resignation and submission. Goodbye Emmanuel Macron. Hello France. The reconquest begins this evening at midnight. ”
Le Pen plays on credibility
At noon, the president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen also posted on the networks her wishes to the French. Tricolor flag and bouquet of flowers for decoration, the one who is presented for the third time to the supreme investiture wants to gain in credibility. “We must propose a country a project of clearly national inspiration, but which is politically and legally viable”, she said. For this year 2022 “Crucial”, Le Pen invites the French “Not to watch or wait for the presidential election, but to do it.” A message to non-voters, in particular. “Recovery, she continues, is no longer an option but an obligation. ”
Taking images of a cross of Lorraine and wreath laying in front of monuments to the dead, the candidate addressed this “Indomitable people who know how to free themselves from false authorities as soon as the national interest demands it.” And to conclude, resounding a reference to Jaurès yet proven: “Let us all be aware that the people only have the nation to defend it and the nation only has the people to defend it.”
Hidalgo and “reconciled France”
Anne Hidalgo, she dissociated her two hats: contender for the Elysee and mayor of Paris. To the French, the socialist candidate asks: “Which France do we want?” Shooting her arrows at her rivals, the candidate proposes “A republican, social, ecological and progressive alternative.” To one “France unequal, unjust, divided”, “Closed, disfigured, vindictive, torn”, she opposes a “France reconciled in justice […] united around the values of the Republic. ” The opportunity to list its strong campaign axes – work, public services, the fight against global warming. And to call, once again and despite the cascading refusals, for the union of the left. “I will continue to do it without ever getting discouraged”, she assured, even if the way, that of “Courage and justice”, is “difficult”.
Classic and serious pécresse
Standing in front of French and European flags, Valérie Pécresse, the Republican candidate, sent greetings focused on security and identity, “The question of questions”. In front of “Existential anguish” that, according to her, many French people would feel, she questions: “Will we still be French, united, equal in rights and duties? Or will we each live for ourselves or worse, face to face, like strangers in a shattered society, plagued by communalism and fanaticism? ” Evoking the “sovereignty”, the “economic development” and “The ecological emergency”, the Chiraquienne did not fail in passing to address a pike to Emmanuel Macron and his “solitary power”.
Jadot and the “Amish in power”
Yannick Jadot, for his part, played the card of humor and originality, presenting his wishes for… 2027. A way of unfolding in the form of an assessment the major themes that the candidate intends to carry during this campaign, reindustrialisation, wages, housing, “Deep transition” of agriculture … A style “Back to the future”, associated with banners mocking its competitors: “The Amish in power”, “My enemy is the world of lobbies!”, “The Republic is you!”…
Montebourg on the phone
Mocked for his staging on social networks where he made unanswered calls to his left-wing competitors, the former minister of François Hollande also opted for staggered wishes, leaving a “vocal message” to the French. “The coming year 2022 may allow us to realize many of our collective dreams ”, wants to believe Montebourg in his audio message. And to continue: “If we decide, and by rolling up our sleeves, we can open up the projects that so many of us hope for and which will give us the pride of a great rediscovered country.” The dream of the former Minister of Productive Recovery: a “France of full employment”, “Independent”, that of “Made in Franc XXL” and who defends his “Ecological sovereignty”. Wishes to relaunch, too, a call for the union of left-wing candidates. “To achieve what is within our reach, we must know how to unite our efforts, organize the combination of forces and create surprises to finally arouse hope”.
Taubira in song
The former Keeper of the Seals also lent herself to the staging, taking for her 2022 wishes excerpts from her visit to Gaël Faye’s concert, at the Zénith in Paris, in November. A way to send a lyrical message, for those who “Consider” to run for president. “We drink and we will dance on your cowardly panics, on your rancid imprecations, on your defeats and your folds, on your anxieties, your nonsense., thus recited Taubira. We are already drinking and dancing to our vigor, to our gaiety, to life, to its bravado, to our exploits, to our blunders. “
Dupont-Aignan cantor of “freedom”
For his greeting address to the French, the candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan chose to pose in front of the replica of the Statue of Liberty, on the island of swans, in Paris. Showing off as the herald of “freedom”, the sovereignist deputy called for “Democratic leap to restore power to the French people.”
Update : updated at 7:30 p.m. with the wishes of Arnaud Montebourg and Christiane Taubira.