Nice-Premium: Your comments the day after the first round national results, combined with a significant increase in participation
Muriel Marland Militello: I am doubly pleased with Nicolas SARKOZY’s clear lead and the record voter turnout. I am convinced that it is the dynamic campaign with a clearly stated project, breaking away from the traditional conventional language, that sparked the interest of the French in this election and elicited either positive or negative reactions from all elected officials, regardless of their sensitivity.
All the other presidential candidates positioned themselves in relation to Nicolas SARKOZY. He was thus at the center of interest in this campaign and it was his proposals that prompted those of others. Thanks to him, a very large number of French people felt involved in this election.
NP: How did you experience the evening of Sunday? And with whom?
M-M-M: In joy, with Nicolas SARKOZY’s scoring, which garnered over 30% support from voters and also reassured me about the French’s ability to resist the caricatured remarks too often put forward by opponents.
The evening began at 7:30 PM as a great moment of shared friendship, with Eric CIOTTI and our UMP friends present at the departmental headquarters. Then, I rushed to my headquarters on Boulevard Joseph Garnier, where so many enthusiastic militants and volunteers awaited me, along with my team. We had a long evening of true fraternal ‘delirium’ with hugs and bursts of laughter… watching the results polling station by polling station… and then, new joy: we secured one of the best scores in the department for our candidate in the 2nd constituency!
Around 11:00 PM, supporters came to congratulate us and I took the opportunity to stand on a chair and proclaim to all our dedicated volunteers and our highly mobilized campaign team “this victory is yours” and we sang the Marseillaise!
NP: Are you satisfied with the results in the 06, as well as in your second constituency?
M-M-M: I am very grateful to Christian ESTROSI for giving us this national first place in the 06, because his commitment alongside Nicolas SARKOZY has garnered the support of many undecided voters… Personally, I fought hard in sensitive neighborhoods (Pasteur, Vallon des Fleurs, Reine Jeanne, Trachel) to make the suffering people of Nice understand that Nicolas SARKOZY has the only project capable of protecting them and promoting social progress for those who want to get ahead!
NP: Do you think everything is decided or, on the contrary, do you fear an overabundance of confidence for the second round?
M-M-M: No, nothing is decided yet because I constantly hear the media declaring Nicolas SARKOZY as the winner. There is both a risk of demobilization of our supporters and an upsurge of hatred from those disappointed with the results with the least positive slogan I know: “all against Sarko,” which will unite opponents of Nicolas SARKOZY who have nothing in common with each other.
NP: The UDF scores well at the national level but seems not to give voting instructions. The FN collapsed even in Nice and the 06, but keeps 4 million voters. How do you analyze these results and what would you like to say to their voters?
M-M-M: Many people who voted UDF are dissatisfied people attributing their dissatisfaction to the current political system. They thought that Bayrou embodied renewal. It is forgotten that he has been a Minister in right-wing governments and without a defined parliamentary majority, political debates will take place much more in the corridors of the Republic than in the hemicycle of the National Assembly.
I do not think François BAYROU can officially give voting instructions without discrediting himself. Furthermore, I believe his voters will return to their natural political family in the second round… and I invite them to closely examine the programs of both candidates, especially the rallying of the far-left to the socialist candidate: they sing the International with a raised fist. This should make more than one person think!
I would say to the voters who still voted for the National Front: “Listen to the many voters who have understood that only Nicolas SARKOZY can implement an effective immigration policy oriented in the interest of our country and without complacency for those who disturb our society. I would also tell them that only the courageous and clear-sighted economic policy of Nicolas SARKOZY will allow us to benefit from global economic growth, thanks to increased purchasing power (lower taxes for individuals and charges for businesses). I would end by saying that cutting ourselves off from Europe would be the ruin of our businesses, which benefit from European orders (three-quarters of their sales) and from all those benefiting from European investments.”
NP: What are your plans until May 6th?
M-M-M: Continue with the same conviction, the same sincerity, the same determination my work as a deputy that I have been doing for 5 years. With the will to demonstrate that the work I have been able to perform for my fellow citizens in Nice and the French in Paris could only take place because it corresponded to my republican and humanist values, thanks to the support of Christian ESTROSI in the department and Nicolas SARKOZY in Paris. Until the very last second, I will make it a priority to defend the only man who will have the courage to implement his program.
