This Tuesday, February 1st marked the first publication of sponsorships for candidates in the presidential election. Each candidate must collect 500 sponsorships from elected officials by March 4th in order to participate in the election.
While the outgoing president Emmanuel Macron has not yet officially announced his candidacy for the presidential election, Christian Estrosi has already expressed his support by sponsoring him, “with complete transparency and without suspense,” as he stated on Twitter.
With complete transparency and without suspense, I have decided to make my support for @EmmanuelMacron official by sponsoring him. pic.twitter.com/96ZsLchEmW
— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) February 1, 2022
The mayor of Nice had already expressed his support for Macron last October on Jean-Jacques Bourdin’s show.
In the PACA region, Emmanuel Macron has collected 7 sponsorships, including that of the mayor of Toulon. Valérie Pécresse, Nathalie Arthaud, and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan have also collected sponsorships in the region.
Although not yet an official candidate, Emmanuel Macron leads the race for sponsorships with 103 signatures from elected officials. He is followed by Anne Hidalgo (48 sponsorships) and Valérie Pécresse (34). Also in the running are the communist Fabien Roussel (30 sponsorships), Jean Lassalle (15 sponsorships), and Eric Zemmour (14 sponsorships).
The list of sponsorships, the first of which was released on February 1st, will be updated twice a week by the Constitutional Council. Candidates have until March 4th to collect these 500 sponsorships. The final list of candidates eligible for the first round of the presidential elections will be revealed on March 7th by the Council of Elders.
In total, about 42,000 elected officials are authorized to sponsor a candidate in France, including deputies, MEPs, and senators, departmental, regional, and territorial councilors, presidents of intermunicipal associations, councilors of the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad, as well as the presidents of consular councils.
