Last Sunday’s departmental election was closely followed by the leaders of other parties.
While the socialists are increasingly wavering, the left wing has taken off to ally with the far left of Mélenchon. Meanwhile, the frontists (RN) are waiting to see who will win the duel between the far right of Éric Ciotti and the progressive right of Christian Estrosi to decide on their joker (the candidate in the municipal elections will be either Philippe Vardon or a national heavyweight—Marion, where are you?). The radicals, still engaged but not yet married, have taken a stance through the voices of the two Nice leaders.
And the voices continue to be two and… quite distinct.
Reading between the lines reveals two options: to present an autonomous candidacy allied with what’s left of the socialists in the municipal elections or to be part of a gathering with Christian Estrosi as the lead candidate?
For Patrick Mottard (Mouvement Radical Social Libéral, former PRG)
This significant overthrowing of the mayor of Nice in the three constituencies of the city during the internal party vote of “Les Républicains” is nothing short of a political earthquake.
Admittedly, it is a militant consultation concerning the core electoral base, but the result is sufficiently striking (a deputy, a senator, and a regional vice-president down) to mark a turning point in local political life.
Indeed, we now have the certainty that there will be a fratricidal duel between the two local right-wing leaders in the Nice municipal elections.
As a result, a political space is opening up, because many people from Nice (from the left, center, and even the right) will refuse to get involved in this false competition, as they support neither the political inconsistency and random management of one candidate nor the very right-wing ideas of the other. Therefore, many of us, given our backgrounds, former positions, and values, have the responsibility to meet this challenge.
For Hervé Cael (Mouvement Radical -Social Libéral / ex-PR Valois)
The internal Républicains 06 vote is not the alpha and omega of local political life!
Today, the same actors and commentators are trying to explain to us that a local internal election within a political party, Les Républicains, which concerns less than 1% of the inhabitants of Alpes-Maritimes, definitively disrupts the prospect of the 2020 municipal elections. I do not downplay the significance of a consultation with the so-called “Républicains” voters from Nice, but I question the panic of a part of the Côte d’Azur political microcosm.
Some already chant premature and presumptuous victory songs, claiming there’s nothing more to see. The process before Nice voters is almost becoming a bureaucratic formality.
Others conveniently recall La Fontaine’s fable “The Thieves and the Donkey” and swiftly assume the role of the third thief who might sweep the stakes. But beware of taking the citizens for donkeys and risking a kick…
What if the 2020 municipal elections were decided on a track record, a project, personalities, skills, and the ability to unite, rather than on a fan club or a political label (which today might appear divisive)?
