Christian Estrosi is more active than ever since the first round of last Sunday’s presidential election.
The inglorious elimination of the right-wing candidate allows him to say, even if in hindsight, “I was right.”
In fact, the candidate’s campaign, his behavior in managing “affairs,” and his political stance could be studied as a textbook case titled “how to definitely lose an election.”
Even if the style wasn’t quite there (how to publicly tell a candidate from your party, “I’m a friend of François but I’m not a Fillonite,” without that person wanting to tell you off, and then add, “I’m loyal but I keep my freedom of speech”… and after that—one might want to say to him), the prediction was correct: by chasing after those who made “law and order” an obsession and the clerico-fascists of Sens Commun, you become dizzy and end up off track.
This is precisely what happened.
Deprived of presidential power for (at minimum) another 5 years, the Republicans must choose their path forward. Will they be part of a hard and pure opposition with the Front National representatives elected from the legislative elections, or could they be a significant component of a probable coalition government?
And, to be more local, what about the legislative elections in the 9 constituencies of the department? Will everything go as expected (plentiful spoils), or will the new map of the implosion and redefinition of parties disrupt consolidated situations?
How can we ignore that the peril is ever-present with more than 100 municipalities where the FN came out on top? What alliances will be formed in the inevitable second rounds? And in the case of three-way races?
Christian Estrosi has made his choice: if you can’t have the best, it’s better not to have the worst.
The message has the merit of being clear and strong. It would be more “noble” without the perennial references to General De Gaulle.
Just a curiosity: Are they sure that my General, if he had known them, would have chosen them as his political heirs, those who claim him?
Statement from the municipal majority of Nice:
“We, the elected officials of the Nice Ensemble municipal majority, acknowledge with sadness the result of the first round of the presidential election where, for the first time, under the Fifth Republic, the candidate of the Republican Right and Centre will not be present in the second round.
The qualification of the far-right candidate poses a major danger to the Republic, to France.
This exceptional situation calls for the utmost responsibility from everyone and clarity in choices.
In the direct line of Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, and reaffirmed on Sunday by François Fillon, we call to block the Front National and vote for Emmanuel Macron.
What unites us stems from the founding pact of the UMP in 2002, affirming that there could be no proximity between the FN and us.
The issue at stake is France; we will never compromise with extremism, racism, anti-Semitism, or the rejection of others.
This choice only applies to this presidential election. It is not a blank check in favor of the En Marche candidate, but a choice by default without endorsement.
Beyond the second round of the presidential election, for the legislative elections, we will be fully engaged alongside the candidates endorsed by the Republicans and the Centre.
Although there are disagreements with Emmanuel Macron’s presidential project, it remains that the worst for our nation would be the election of the anti-European candidate who carries an economic project that would bankrupt our country, and, through her lineage with her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, challenge the responsibility of the French State on the Holocaust.
Against the far-right, we vote republican!”
