On Tuesday, Nicolas Sarkozy took a stand in the campaign for the French presidential elections: “Finally”, some newspapers commented, since the former President of the Republic had never spoken out in favor of Valérie Pécresse, the candidate of the party he founded , Les Républicains (LR, to the right). Sarkozy has now published a text on his Twitter and Facebook accounts in which he announced, contrary to the official voting position of his political family, that he would vote for Emmanuel Macron and against Marine Le Pen in the second ballot on April 24. Sarkozy’s decision creates several internal problems for LR, who are already grappling with a disastrous firstround result and a rather critical financial situation.
After resolutely keeping a low profile and not publicly supporting Pécresse, Sarkozy released a lengthy statement calling on Macron to vote. Sarkozy speaks of the “necessary experience of the head of state in the face of a serious international crisis that is more complex than ever”, of Macron’s economic project that gives priority to “work” and of his “clear and unequivocal” European commitment.
But Sarkozy went further. In fact, he called for heeding Macron’s call after the results of the first round to create a “great political movement of unity and action,” “to invent something new to bring together different beliefs and sensitivities,” and therefore to Restoring the strength of a compact “republican front” against the extreme right.
Indeed, by supporting and reviving the outgoing President’s proposal, Sarkozy has opened up the possibility of a broader recomposition of the political space for the future, involving a pact between the right and the Macronists: “A new era is coming,” Sarkozy wrote again: ” It will require profound changes. It will be necessary to get out of partisan habits and reflexes ». And he added: “Loyalty to the values of the Republican right and our culture of government must lead us to respond to Emmanuel Macron’s call for a rally in view of the presidential election. As things stand, he’s the only one capable of action. The interest of France must be our only guide ».
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With these statements, Sarkozy has effectively reactivated divisions in his own party.
LR, after the historic loss in the first round, had decided to express its unity and middle position by asking not to vote for Le Pen but without saying to vote for Macron and therefore chose to do so has to reaffirm its independence from the outgoing President and to regard that independence as a fundamental political condition for its own political survival.
After the LR meeting, which gave the party’s official position on the second round, a group of leaders did not hide their frustration with the decisions made. MP Guillaume Larrivé, who is striving for a coalition agreement with Macron, has expressly spoken out against the passed motion. For his part, the mayor of Meaux, JeanFrançois Copé, defended the idea of ”a new government pact.
The majority of LR’s elected officials, on the other hand, reaffirmed the party’s principle of independence and spoke of the need to remain in opposition in the event of a possible new mandate for Macron. “We will not join Macron at the end of Macronism,” said Troyes Mayor François Baroin, for example. “In order to continue to exist, we must be independent,” added LR number two, Annie Genevard: “Macron wants to lead us to a single party, that is dangerous for the democratic system.” And MP Julien Aubert: “The problem is not so much that Sarkozy is asking to vote for Macron, but that he is responding to his call and proposing the end of LR. It is Kronos who eats his children ». Finally, Bruno Retailleau, President of LR in the Senate, downplayed, saying that Nicolas Sarkozy’s position was “personal”: “We will not rebuild the right by diluting ourselves in Macronism. We will rebuild on fidelity to our beliefs ».
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Some observers are wondering whether Sarkozy’s stance on the vote will mark a break with his political family, or whether many within the party will instead follow his lead.
However, some newspapers suggest that Sarkozy’s departure was agreed with Macron himself. As Le Monde reports, ten days ago Macron received Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss these “magnificent manoeuvres”. In the last five years, however, the two have strengthened their relationship: “A special relationship has developed between them, consisting of mutual admiration and rivalry (…) Regular telephone calls, consultations on important issues, invitations to lunch at the Elysée,” writes he always remembers Le Monde.
Emmanuel Macron avoided any definition in 2017, saying he was “neither right nor left”, which plunged part of the moderate left, whose votes he had collected, into a crisis. By the time he became president, Macron’s politics had shifted decisively to the right: observers say the outgoing president has felt for some time that his chances of reelection depend on his ability to seduce the right. That is why he made Sarkozy his best ally to weaken Les Républicains (LR) and prevent the party from being rebuilt. “He tells me that he cannot be reelected without us, he asked me to help him,” Sarkozy has been repeating for the past two years and envisions a coalition agreement between La République En Marche and the right in the future, in which LR find plenty of room for representation and political offices.
In recent weeks, Macron has multiplied the signs of attention compared to his predecessor. He invited him to lunch at the Elysée on January 28, his birthday, and in a recent interview in Le Figaro he quoted him as saying that he “finds himself in what “President Sarkozy said about “work and merit and since entering the election campaign he has also taken up some of his famous phrases. “President Macron’s gestures towards President Sarkozy have been made, remarked a Macron strategist quoted by Le Monde shortly before the first round: “The first always thought that the second should take a stand in his favour. Sarkozy alone moves a million votes».
For his part, Macron welcomed Sarkozy’s statement: “I thank him for his trust and support. It’s very important,” he said, debunking his enthusiasm just hours later. In fact, Sarkozy’s comments could prove counterproductive for Macron, who won the votes of the right in the first ballot and now needs to win back those of the left in order to win the ballot.