The final stretch before next Sunday’s elections and Christian Estrosi’s last sprint before the first-round vote.
For his final rally, at home in Nice, the crowd turned out in full force to support “their” Christian.
The duel with Marion Maréchal Le Pen, favored by the polls, holds immense importance for the LR candidate: a defeat would likely have local consequences for him, but more importantly, it would have certain repercussions on a national level.
Politics is flattering to the winners, but it is especially ruthless to the losers.
Yet, no one can fault Christian Estrosi for his lack of commitment. For months, he’s been crisscrossing the region at a frantic pace; his program is a catalog of promises for all territories and categories. Everyone finds something to their benefit.
Unfortunately, the electoral campaign has progressively shifted away from regional themes to become nationalized: immigration and security have become the real key issues, gradually overshadowing all others.
And yet, they are not part of regional responsibilities… but with the disorderly arrival of migrants and the Paris attacks, how can you make people see reason, let alone the candidates?
The formidable machine of populist-Le Pen rhetoric has taken over, and that’s that!
This is also the downside of Nicolas Sarkozy’s national strategy: by consistently encroaching on FN territory, the Republicans risk being overwhelmed by their base. And there’s no point in making your discourse more right-wing—the original will always be better than the copy.
So, last night, the establishment, numerous followers and loyal supporters, plus the aficionados, awarded a triumphant bullfighter’s reception to Christian Estrosi in the arena. He, in turn, spared no effort (or horse) with a stirring intervention against the threat of a Front National success: “The danger is here. I care about the fate of my constituents, and I know what they want and don’t want,” he sought to convey, presenting himself as a kind of Lord Protector.
Will the horizontal appeal of the message, aiming to include as many people and voters as possible, and the vertical demeanor signaling the leader’s decisiveness, be enough to defeat his opponent?
Because this young “blonde girl” seems to be less of a wire and more like steel.
