INFOGRAPHIC – The Head of State consults to reflect on the possible postponement of municipal elections by one year. For the Europeans, he is studying an overhaul of the ballot.
The evenings of the President of the Republic are definitely busy. After having received representatives of the law, social affairs and defense commissions, it is now the turn of local elected officials to be invited to the Palace to meet with the Head of State. On November 2, a dinner is devoted to the files of the Lot. The president (various left) of the departmental council Serge Rigal, the deputy LREM Huguette Tiegna and several mayors of small towns find themselves at the table of the head of state. The participants, unaccustomed to the golds of the Republic, can't get over being there. Around the table, we talk about a painful subject: the harvest, catastrophic after the late frost that occurred in the spring. The Cahors vineyard is devastated. Farmers, demoralized.
Extend its network of elected officials
Six months after conquering the summit of power, Emmanuel Macron wants to take the pulse of the country. And, along the way, expand your network. For this, it will have to boost its network of elected officials, at all levels. Coincidence or coincidence, the executive is considering a review of the next elections. Starting with the municipal elections of 2020. Should they be postponed for a year, in order to group them with the departmental and regional elections, set for 2021? The question bothers some officials.
“Three elections in two years is a lot, so the question naturally arises”
Legally, there is nothing against it. Advantage: avoid stacking voting days, which demobilize citizens. "Three elections in two years, that's a lot, so the question naturally arises," said the president of the MoDem group in the Assembly Marc Fesneau. Politically, this would, some believe, buy time for the first results of Macronism to be tangible.
On the European, fixed in 2019, the reflection is much more advanced. Several redesign hypotheses are on the table. Discussions are going well between the Élysée, Matignon and the Ministry of the Interior. The option that holds the rope is to establish national lists. Each political family would present a single list of candidates for the European Parliament. Two other scenarios now seem ruled out: transnational lists (composed of European citizens) as Emmanuel Macron had first suggested in September or regional lists adapted to the new administrative map (13 lists).
The choice to nationalize the European ballot may seem technical; it is eminently tactical. It is a question of putting the PS and Les Républicains in difficulty (…) and of appearing as the only clearly pro-European line against the FN and La France insoumise
The choice to nationalize the ballot may seem technical; it is eminently tactical. It is a question of putting in difficulty the PS and the Republicans, unclear on the doctrine to defend in European matters. And to appear as the only clearly pro-European line against the FN and La France insoumise. “Europe is central to our project, argues Macronist MP Sophie Errante. Why not, one day, go even further and invite French MEPs once a week to the National Assembly?”
»READ ALSO - From national lists to Europeans or act II of the political recomposition
A sign that the big maneuvers are about to begin, the president of the majority group Richard Ferrand will table a motion for a resolution on European symbols within the nation on 27 November. It concerns anthems, the Republican motto… and flags. A stone in the garden of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who rails against the presence of the European flag in the Hemicycle. Through this initiative, Richard Ferrand unleashes the first blows of the European campaign.
Within the majority, the next few weeks promise to be intense behind the scenes. Emmanuel Macron's allies will want to be well placed in the national list. This is the case of the Modem. But also constructors. The new direction of La République en Marche, formed on November 18, will have to tackle the difficult negotiations of the shop, with its share of tensions and slamming of the door. The crucial question of the head of the list will also arise. It is a question of finding a headliner embodying the European orientation of the majority, sufficiently known to rally to it the greatest number of votes. The equation is not simple.
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Source: © Le Figaro Premium – Municipal and European elections: what President Macron is preparing
