Six lists, five seats to be filled in a department where The Republicans reign supreme. In the Alpes-Maritimes, the senatorial elections should resemble a formality for the right and a warm-up round for all the others. A way to tally themselves, before the departmental and regional elections, scheduled for next March.
They have set out on their campaign like a tour. A stop every evening, in a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes, meeting with some 2,000 grand electors of the department. Here, the mayor of a small village in the hinterland, there the departmental councilor of the canton. Make sure to forget no one, to ensure a full vote count.
The five candidates* of The Republicans’ list and their two alternates continued to canvass the field until Friday, September 25, the eve before the senatorial elections. Led by the outgoing senator, Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, they secured the support of the main mayors and intercommunal presidents of the Alpes-Maritimes, a stronghold of the LR.
A campaign that could have resembled a walk in the park if the current events and some surprise candidacies hadn’t turned up, sometimes without warning.
Yet within the LR, not all sidesteps are considered equal. Anne Sattonnet learned this the hard way. A few days after announcing she was leading a dissident list, she was excluded from the departmental majority. She, who claims to have skipped the municipal elections to fully commit to the Senate, likely did not appreciate not being on her party’s list.
Is this surprise list a rival or a complement to the official LR list, from someone who has already announced that, if elected, she would sit with the LR group in the Senate? In the last senatorial elections, Jean-Pierre Leleux also ran without endorsement. His victory ultimately allowed his political family to count one more senator, thanks to votes that might have been lost had he not run.
This face-off between Dominique Estrosi-Sassone and Anne Sattonnet has an already anticipated outcome. The powerful and skillful outgoing senator will return to the Palais du Luxembourg, while the one who, after failing to become mayor of her town, Vence, will remain on the sidelines. In politics, having ambitions is not enough to succeed.
On the far right, there is the list of the National Rally, led by the main opponent of the mayor of Nice, Philippe Vardon, who never misses an opportunity to mark his territory. He has no hope of being elected but, in fact, his goal is the next regional elections. So, he must stay in the race to assert that he is indeed the territorial head of the party.
La Rรฉpublique En Marche is the great absentee of this election. The party (given the total lack of its electoral base) ultimately did not present a list. In sports language, this would be called a K.O. by forfeit.
On the left, however, there is a united list. EELV, PCF, and PS led by the deputy mayor of Contes, the communist Alain Michellis. Will they manage to keep the only seat the left won in 2014, that of the outgoing senator Marc Daunis, who is not running again? Hope is the last to die but
it can be thought that this union aims to foreshadow a momentum that will continue in forthcoming electoral events.
Finally, it is rare enough to note, in an election where traditionally elected officials address their peers, two list leaders have wagered on a citizen vote, outside of parties. Imen Cherif and Henri Trompier have no mandate but the ambition to make a round. It’s not very clear what they are doing there, except for the thrill of making a round, but there are worse things.
