In his editorial for this Tuesday, February 15, Yoann Usai, political journalist for CNEWS, talks about the disinterest of the French for the next presidential election.
This election campaign is not sticking. There are several reasons for this. First the weakness of the cast. Few candidates have government experience. There are few statesmen or women who truly embody a thought, a political philosophy.
Then, and this is undoubtedly the most problematic, many candidates have chosen the wrong election or rather hijacked the election.
On the left, we are not a candidate to win the presidential election, we tear each other apart, we fight over the leadership at the end of the election… Who will come out on top of their camp? In other words, who will have the biggest crumb? The first round will serve as a kind of congress. Is this the role of a presidential? It helps to lower the level.
It’s the same thing for Éric Zemmour, moreover, he is not a candidate to win, he knows very well that it is impossible. He dreams of being the leader of the union of the rights after 2022. This is why he does not seek to bring people together, this is why he is only addressing the most radical fringe of the right by reducing the debate mainly to immigration and identity, while a majority of French people believe that these are not the most important issues. Some French people feel excluded from these debates.
All this gives the French the feeling that the choice is limited and that the election is already played, a very large majority already predicts the re-election of Emmanuel Macron.
There is therefore an election that has lost part of its meaning and there is also an unprecedented lack of seriousness. The lack of seriousness of the Socialists in this election is almost an offense for the voters and therefore for the French. Anne Hidalgo and Christine Taubira give the impression of having completely improvised their candidacy. Besides, it’s not just an impression, you just have to see Christine Taubira talk about housing to understand that yes, her candidacy is improvised. The Socialists have spent the last five years tearing themselves apart, rather than working, and it shows.
On the right it’s different, Valérie Pécresse has worked, she’s prepared but Valérie Pécresse is in panic. She can no longer hold her own. It is no longer her ideas that she is defending in this campaign, it is not her vision of France that she is defending, it is the vision of the right wing of her party. It explains the fact that we felt so uncomfortable on Sunday during his meeting, it probably explains the lack of sincerity also felt. She had left LR because of her right-handed drift, here she is today talking about the great replacement and the French people on paper to try to avoid the flight of voters to Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen. She is in fact the prisoner of a candidacy that is not hers, the French obviously feel it and the voters are confused.
Macron deprives the French of a real debate. By refusing to step into the arena. He does not want to talk about his balance sheet, he still does not present his project. He wants a flash campaign but how to discuss all the problems that concern France in fifty or even maybe forty days only. This is neither serious nor responsible in the current situation.
All these reasons mean that the French are not really interested in this election. At fifty-four days from the first round, it is worrying because if the important questions are not decided during your election, the risk is that the challenge will take place in the street.