On Sunday, voters (how many will there be? and which ones will they be) will go to the polls to conclude this marathon election and elect their mayor for the next six years.
How can they forget this campaign with its various surprises, which went all the way but was filled with uncertainties, and which finally concludes without the candidates being able to meet directly with their voters?
Many social media posts, some manifestos, press points, leaflet distribution… a lot of personal commitment but? It must be said that there does not seem to be much interest from people who seem to have put aside this act of citizenship and who think more about professional pursuits, the beach, an aperitif, and other things rather than their future mayor.
Yet, starting Monday, their name will be on everyone’s lips for any problem: Mister Mayor here, Mister Mayor there. That’s how democracy goes these days, where citizens claim all rights and often forget their duties, the first of which is to choose with their vote the one who will have the heavy responsibility of managing the city in which they live, and, at the very least, to be the recipient of all their grievances. To understand all this, ask good Doctor Freud who knows how to explain the inexplicable.
The last act of this campaign that is not really one—at least, it is the first of a new generation, a remote campaign—the classic debate between the finalists will take place tonight on the regional television channel.
In fact, it will be missing the presence of the candidate who came out far ahead in the first round on March 15, Christian Estrosi, who has chosen to focus on the economic recovery of the city and who will be engaged in a two-day promotion for the future start of the Tour de France (end of August), which remains the only major event of a season that has been dismantled due to the health crisis. With an investment of 3.5 million euros, the days of the TdF were supposed to bring significant returns for the hotel, restaurant, and commerce sectors with the presence of the race organization and its entourage (riders, staff, journalists, village) and an audience of enthusiasts from outside. Will it still be like this, or will the health and economic crisis change the situation? The stakes are high, and that’s why Christian Estrosi has made it a priority.
Remaining on the television platform are the two challengers Philippe Vardon (RN) and Jean-Marc Governatori (ecologists) who, in the absence of the target to whom they can direct all their complaints, will have to be content with exchanging a few blows with each other.
What more and new can they tell us? We don’t expect much.
Philippe Vardon—as we know—bases all his discourse on themes of security and the fight against communalism. These arguments are not unfounded, quite the opposite when we see the dangers from clashes in neighborhoods where drug trafficking has become the daily economic base. However, this issue—which deserves no leniency towards the protagonists—is more the responsibility of the State than the Mayor. Moreover, organizing the life of a city of over 350,000 inhabitants (500,000 with the municipalities of the Metropolis) cannot be reduced to fighting crime (otherwise, if someone had the winning formula, they could make a fortune selling it to the mayors of all the cities in the world suffering—more or less—from the same plague).
Jean-Marc Governatori will be able to better explain his formula of democracy in franchising. According to the enigmatic person’s words, Christian Estrosi should entrust the “environmental management” of the municipality to the list he leads. In the list of adjectives that have accompanied the noun “democracy” for some time, the adjective “franchised” was not yet included. Now it is. We await the sequel with curiosity, while wondering if Mr. Governatori is indeed on earth and not in the cosmos!
Besides, when the character presents himself with the slogan: “my job is management, my passion is ecology,” didn’t you feel like asking him if he likes pizza?
Well, the evening on the regional television platform will certainly be interesting and the two challenger candidates would do well to take advantage of it.
Starting next week, after sharing the dozen or so elected officials who will return to the opposition, they will begin six long years of opposition to Christian Estrosi, supported by a large, experienced majority and a well-oiled management machine.
It would be good for them to enrich the relevance and quality of their action to not end up as a “vox clamantis in deserto.”
