France Election Playbook: The final countdown —
Marine silence — Masks off
BY JULES
DARMANIN
April 1,
2022 2:03 pm
POLITICO
France election Playbook
By JULES
DARMANIN
Bonjour,
and good afternoon. It’s Friday, April 1.
DRIVING THE
DAY
THE FINAL
COUNTDOWN: Presidential candidates are gearing up for the last weekend of
campaigning before the first round of the election, with each contestant’s plan
in line with their respective style.
Wait, last
weekend? The first-round vote is indeed next Sunday (April 10), but campaigning
stops at midnight next Friday. So French people will be able to enjoy a
glorious Saturday with no polls, no rallies, no TV shows — nothing but the
sound of Facebook acquaintances typing lengthy posts to explain who they’re
going to vote for and why you should do the same.
Sunday,
goody Sunday: This means the next couple of days are crucial for candidates.
They will all have a packed week ahead but this weekend is their last
opportunity to draw massive crowds and show popular support. Here’s what the
main candidates are doing:
Getting
ready to rumble: Incumbent Emmanuel Macron is all-in on his large arena rally
tomorrow, the only such event of his first-round campaign. He’s going to be the
only politician to speak on the big stage shown being built in a Netflix-style
teaser released by his campaign yesterday. The other speakers will be regular
French people, via video or from the crowd, POLITICO Playbook Paris reported.
This has been a common theme of the campaign, under the slogan “Emmanuel Macron
with you,” during which he paradoxically didn’t spend that much time amid
crowds.
Macron’s
challenge: The incumbent, the clear favorite, is still facing some headwinds.
Putting controversies around McKinsey and consultancies aside, he’s having a
hard time sending a clear message about his platform. One of his most
identifiable propositions for the next five years, which is moving the
retirement age up to 65, could drive away a number of precious left-wing voters
when it comes to a likely runoff against far-right rival Marine Le Pen. “He’s
well aware that when he’s putting out the 65 thing, he’s losing three
percentage points. And that the election becomes de facto a referendum on this
disposition,” a campaign official told to Playbook Paris’ Pauline de Saint
Remy.
Why don’t
you come on over?: Valérie Pécresse, who’s running for mainstream conservative
party Les Républicains, is adopting the opposite approach for her own large
rally this Sunday. About 15 bigwigs from the party are going to speak before
the candidate herself, leaving copious amounts of time for popcorn breaks.
Stop making
a fool out of me: Unless a miracle helps her bridge the 10 percentage point gap
she has with Le Pen, Pécresse is not going to qualify for the runoff. That
means her main objective this weekend is to show that her political family is
still united in adversity and ready to fight for seats in the legislative
election. One name will be missing from the roster of guests, though, as former
President Nicolas Sarkozy has not endorsed the candidate from his own party. Is
the family picture really complete when dad’s away?
Toulouse is
to win: Jean-Luc Mélenchon is having one of his typical outdoor rallies in
Toulouse, which might be uncharacteristically rainy this Sunday. The leftist
candidate also went to the southwestern city to close his 2017 campaign, and
the city thanked him by placing him first in the first round with 29 percent.
This weekend, rain or shine, Mélenchon will try to pack the place du Capitole
and convince as many undecided voters as he can, which he’ll need to do if he
hopes to upset Le Pen and finish second next Sunday. According to POLITICO’s
Poll of Polls, Mélenchon’s averaging at 15 percent while Le Pen has gone to up
around 20 percent, with both candidates enjoying upward trends.
Marine
silence: Le Pen, for her part, is quietly riding the wave that is expected to
take her to a faceoff with Macron, holding modest rallies in friendly small
towns, including tonight in Stiring-Wendel, a small town in northeastern France
which placed her first in both rounds in 2017. According to l’Express, her
allies have been told to keep things low-key during their TV hits, and to avoid
any provocative statements. This fits into the broader Le Pen strategy of
mostly campaigning on purchasing power rather than immigration, despite keeping
radical anti-immigration propositions in her plan. It seems to be paying off
since she’s getting closer to Macron in second-round polls.
TV maths:
Le Pen’s far-right rival, former pundit Eric Zemmour, should be spending the
weekend in his comfort zone: TV studios. He has no meeting planned this
weekend, but news networks will be required to give a good chunk of airtime to
each candidate if they want to broadcast Macron’s big event in full.
BY THE
NUMBERS
MASKS OFF:
As we reported in previous editions, some in Macron’s campaign were worried
that he didn’t show his face enough on the campaign trail. But when it comes to
election day, it looks like French people are very much in favor of not having
to see each other’s faces. According to a new poll by BVA for Orange and RTL, a
whopping 72 percent say it should be mandatory to wear a face mask in polling
stations on April 10 and for the second-round vote on April 24. This is
unsurprisingly a polarizing issue, with 80 percent of Macron voters in favor of
masks and only 57 percent of Zemmour supporters backing this. Yesterday, the
government announced that masks would not be mandatory but “very strongly
recommended” for the most vulnerable people.
BY JULES
DARMANIN
April 1,
2022 2:03 pm
POLITICO
France election Playbook
By JULES
DARMANIN
Bonjour,
and good afternoon. It’s Friday, April 1.
DRIVING THE
DAY
THE FINAL
COUNTDOWN: Presidential candidates are gearing up for the last weekend of
campaigning before the first round of the election, with each contestant’s plan
in line with their respective style.
Wait, last
weekend? The first-round vote is indeed next Sunday (April 10), but campaigning
stops at midnight next Friday. So French people will be able to enjoy a
glorious Saturday with no polls, no rallies, no TV shows — nothing but the
sound of Facebook acquaintances typing lengthy posts to explain who they’re
going to vote for and why you should do the same.
Sunday,
goody Sunday: This means the next couple of days are crucial for candidates.
They will all have a packed week ahead but this weekend is their last
opportunity to draw massive crowds and show popular support. Here’s what the
main candidates are doing:
Getting
ready to rumble: Incumbent Emmanuel Macron is all-in on his large arena rally
tomorrow, the only such event of his first-round campaign. He’s going to be the
only politician to speak on the big stage shown being built in a Netflix-style
teaser released by his campaign yesterday. The other speakers will be regular
French people, via video or from the crowd, POLITICO Playbook Paris reported.
This has been a common theme of the campaign, under the slogan “Emmanuel Macron
with you,” during which he paradoxically didn’t spend that much time amid
crowds.
Macron’s
challenge: The incumbent, the clear favorite, is still facing some headwinds.
Putting controversies around McKinsey and consultancies aside, he’s having a
hard time sending a clear message about his platform. One of his most
identifiable propositions for the next five years, which is moving the
retirement age up to 65, could drive away a number of precious left-wing voters
when it comes to a likely runoff against far-right rival Marine Le Pen. “He’s
well aware that when he’s putting out the 65 thing, he’s losing three
percentage points. And that the election becomes de facto a referendum on this
disposition,” a campaign official told to Playbook Paris’ Pauline de Saint
Remy.
Why don’t
you come on over?: Valérie Pécresse, who’s running for mainstream conservative
party Les Républicains, is adopting the opposite approach for her own large
rally this Sunday. About 15 bigwigs from the party are going to speak before
the candidate herself, leaving copious amounts of time for popcorn breaks.
Stop making
a fool out of me: Unless a miracle helps her bridge the 10 percentage point gap
she has with Le Pen, Pécresse is not going to qualify for the runoff. That
means her main objective this weekend is to show that her political family is
still united in adversity and ready to fight for seats in the legislative
election. One name will be missing from the roster of guests, though, as former
President Nicolas Sarkozy has not endorsed the candidate from his own party. Is
the family picture really complete when dad’s away?
Toulouse is
to win: Jean-Luc Mélenchon is having one of his typical outdoor rallies in
Toulouse, which might be uncharacteristically rainy this Sunday. The leftist
candidate also went to the southwestern city to close his 2017 campaign, and
the city thanked him by placing him first in the first round with 29 percent.
This weekend, rain or shine, Mélenchon will try to pack the place du Capitole
and convince as many undecided voters as he can, which he’ll need to do if he
hopes to upset Le Pen and finish second next Sunday. According to POLITICO’s
Poll of Polls, Mélenchon’s averaging at 15 percent while Le Pen has gone to up
around 20 percent, with both candidates enjoying upward trends.
Marine
silence: Le Pen, for her part, is quietly riding the wave that is expected to
take her to a faceoff with Macron, holding modest rallies in friendly small
towns, including tonight in Stiring-Wendel, a small town in northeastern France
which placed her first in both rounds in 2017. According to l’Express, her
allies have been told to keep things low-key during their TV hits, and to avoid
any provocative statements. This fits into the broader Le Pen strategy of
mostly campaigning on purchasing power rather than immigration, despite keeping
radical anti-immigration propositions in her plan. It seems to be paying off
since she’s getting closer to Macron in second-round polls.
TV maths:
Le Pen’s far-right rival, former pundit Eric Zemmour, should be spending the
weekend in his comfort zone: TV studios. He has no meeting planned this
weekend, but news networks will be required to give a good chunk of airtime to
each candidate if they want to broadcast Macron’s big event in full.
BY THE
NUMBERS
MASKS OFF:
As we reported in previous editions, some in Macron’s campaign were worried
that he didn’t show his face enough on the campaign trail. But when it comes to
election day, it looks like French people are very much in favor of not having
to see each other’s faces. According to a new poll by BVA for Orange and RTL, a
whopping 72 percent say it should be mandatory to wear a face mask in polling
stations on April 10 and for the second-round vote on April 24. This is
unsurprisingly a polarizing issue, with 80 percent of Macron voters in favor of
masks and only 57 percent of Zemmour supporters backing this. Yesterday, the
government announced that masks would not be mandatory but “very strongly
recommended” for the most vulnerable people.
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