The election should take place in September, featuring a campaign period slightly longer than during the last partial cantonal election of the 12th canton, in which Benoît Kandel, Deputy Mayor of the city of Nice, won against Frédérique Grégoire Concas, a Socialist municipal councilor from Nice. A new long-distance duel is looming between Christian Estrosi and Patrick Allemand in this partial cantonal election with Lauriano Azinheirinha and Xavier Garcia who might count on a third candidacy from an outsider, Fabien Benard, defending the orange colors of the MoDem.
The intentions of Patrick Mottard and his Gauche Autrement, who this time cannot count on Pierre Laigle, the unfortunate candidate of the 2008 cantonal election who could not submit his paperwork in time to participate in the second round, leading to the election of Jean-Pierre Mangiapan with 100% of the votes, are still unknown. The Greens, the Communists, and the Identitaires might also throw their hats into the ring just like in 2008 but without much hope for a second round. It seems that no representative of Jacques Peyrat’s Republican Agreement will be at the starting line.
Thus, an unexpected summer campaign will need to be conducted by the candidates against a backdrop of a heatwave and vacations in a canton encompassing the neighborhoods of Libération, Borriglione, Cimiez, Saint Lambert, Malausséna, Pasteur, and Saint Pons, with a population nearing 30,000 inhabitants. In 2008, 9,556 voters out of 17,192 registered participated in the first round, while the second round with a single candidate only attracted 5,822 voters. No doubt, the respective campaigns of the candidates will try to ensure that mobilization is high for an election scheduled to take place in the midst of the return from summer break, in September.
Official declarations of candidacy should therefore not be long in coming in the weeks ahead, even though the nomination of some among them seems already secured; still, the choice of substitutes may reveal some surprises on both sides.
