Municipal: the right warns against "electoral tampering"

The possible modification of the municipal electoral calendar arouses mistrust and questions in the ranks of the right. In the National Assembly, Christian Jacob, president of the LR group, prefers to wait for a possible text on the subject before pronouncing an official position. On the Senate side, Bruno Retailleau, also president of the LR group, wonders about the interest of such a political coup for Emmanuel Macron. The senator from Vendée does not yet believe in this hypothesis because a well-informed source assures him that "the affair is not in the pipes".

This does not prevent Les Républicains from considering all the scenarios, including that of a very significant risk for the head of state. "This Americanization of the calendar, consisting of installing sorts of midterm elections, could very well turn against it because, in the event of a major failure one year from the presidential election, it would be a very bad start," says Bruno Retailleau, recalling the electoral defeats of the left under François Hollande, in particular from the municipal elections of 2014 to the departmental elections of 2015.

A political maneuver

“This can only be a form of electoral tampering and political calculation”, accuses Éric Ciotti, LR deputy for the Alpes-Maritimes. If "the president of the hyper-rich" embarked on this adventure, he would judge "the calculation at high risk" and "dangerous" since the intermediate elections are "rarely positive" for the executive. Ciotti thinks thata modification of the European voting system would be the result of a "maneuver" policy aimed at removing a "risk". Having “no regional leader”, supported by “disconnected above-ground deputies” and “distrustful of the province”, Macron’s party would have every interest in trying to weaken the territories. “Hence the idea of ​​nationalizing this election under his name”, analyzes the parliamentarian LR.

For several tenors on the right, the head of state could decide to postpone the municipal elections to 2021 in the hope of seeing the first positive results of his reforms emerge. Some elected LR dread this option because it would ensure an extension of Anne Hidalgo as mayor of Paris. In small towns, grouping together three elections in a single day (municipal, departmental and regional) would impose such constraints, in terms of logistical and human resources (number of polling stations, voting booths, assessors, etc.), that we I don't see how this project would be feasible.

Moreover, the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), chaired by François Baroin (LR), which is preparing its 100th congress, from November 20 to 23, in a tense climate with the government, is not in favor of a schedule change. The AMF advocates “respecting democratic deadlines”. “We cannot shake up the electoral calendar according to the political opportunities of the State”, warns André Laignel, first vice-president PS of the AMF.

Finally, at the National Front, Marine Le Pen says she is “very opposed” to the postponement of municipal elections. “This project is not without ulterior motives. It is a mixture of genres whose objective is to minimize the role of the municipalities and to break the proximity existing between the voter and his city, ”she accuses. As for the Europeans, if an enlargement of the constituencies would be an “absolute delirium”, on the other hand, the president of the FN would be delighted to see the emergence of a “large macronist, Europeanist and globalist list assumed”. “It would be, she believes, a clarification.”

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