Let’s be clear: I will never vote for François Fillon or Alain Juppé in the first round of the Presidential election. However, the result of the right-wing primary is not negative in my view as a democrat.
Indeed, there is no worse enemy of democracy than populism. This populism that triumphed in England with Brexit. The same populism that triumphed in the USA with Trump.
In France, it is of course embodied by the National Front but also for many years by Nicolas Sarkozy, who has greatly degraded the political debate in France while diminishing the presidential office.
His elimination by his own camp is therefore good news for the Republic.
What remains is to fight the mother of battles against the National Front. But that is another story in which the left will have its say. And the social program of the candidate who came out on top in the right-wing primary risks turning this wish into an imperative necessity.
by Patrick Mottard
