The announcement by the local UMP leadership regarding the candidacy of Senator Dominique Estrosi Sassone and Carros Mayor Charles Scibetta as candidates in the Nice III canton for the departmental elections on March 22 and 29 has sparked some acerbic comments from a few rivals, who were quick to highlight the heterogeneous nature of this electoral duo.
The first to speak out was Marie-Christine Arnautu, who recently took on the role of departmental head for the FN and does not hide her ambitions in terms of electoral results: “Besides the surprising fact that Dominique Estrosi had pledged not to seek any other mandate, it is amusing to note that her partner’s choice fell on someone who was a member of the Communist Party for 30 years. A well-informed voter is worth two, and there is no doubt they will know how to put a stop to electoral schemes by massively supporting the FN/RBM duo in the Carros canton: Michel Thooris and Audrey Brondolin.”
Olivier Bettati (My party is Nice, outgoing general councilor) also does not miss a chance to criticize Christian Estrosi, to whom he also opposes a supposed covert aid to Marc Daunis, senator and mayor of Valbonne who surpassed him by three votes in the last senatorial election: “After discreetly getting a socialist senator elected in September, Mr. Estrosi has nominated, in the Nice 3 canton, alongside his ex-wife Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, an elected official who until very recently was a member of the Communist Party. This behavior speaks volumes about Mr. Estrosi’s convictions.“
In fact, if you look closely, there is a logic to all this.
Firstly, the UMP is seeking a “sweep” in this election that could weigh in during the regional elections: Who will be the UMP candidate for the presidency of a regional council perceived as winnable against a leftist candidate who could be Nice’s Patrick Allemand?
So, if that is the objective, why forgo the possibility of bringing together the new mayor of Carros, with his recent and thus still strong popularity, and the powerful neo-senator Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, outgoing councilor and well-established in the Nice part of this newly expanded canton?
Was Charles Scibetta a man of the left, as his detractors accuse? Yes, and he certainly was, maybe even his heart still beats on the left, but in any case, his political position has been, since his election (for which he supposedly received a boost from so-called right-wing voters), in the majority at the Metropolitan Council where he is, certainly not by chance, one of the vice-presidents. Moreover, he himself declared some time ago that, if he were to run, he would be “an independent within the departmental majority.”
As they say in these cases, there are signs that do not deceive…
Dominique Estrosi-Sassone is criticized for running as a candidate for the General Council (where she already sits) after having resigned, or announced that she would do so after her election to the Senate, having been elected to the Nice City Council.
Moreover, with the prospect of having to resign from one of the three positions due to exceeding the number of mandates. Why run only to resign once elected? She had already done so at the Regional Council after heading the list in the Alpes-Maritimes during the term that will end late 2015?
So, once the election objective is achieved, she will resign from one of her elective offices, almost certainly from the same departmental assembly (if necessary, an appeal for irregularity will buy a few more months).
Do people no longer appreciate these little games, admittedly in line with the laws and regulations but sometimes a bit on the edge concerning ethics?
Well, too bad…
Too bad for them!
