Chiraquienne at heart, Valérie Pécresse would probably not deny the famous phrase of her mentor according to which “shit fly in squadron”. While the candidate accuses a resounding backlash, an investigation carried out by the newspaper Release says that the primary which led to his appointment at the beginning of December would have been marred by a certain number of manipulations.
Thus, many members deemed “false” or “puppet” might have participated in the ballot which brought together some 139,000 voters. According to the daily, while the level of participation in this election was a crucial issue, the camps of several candidates, including Valérie Pécresse, thus struggled to “make cards”. Until enrolling people who knew nothing of this competition. Nothing illegal, but…
“I am the woman to kill”
“Liberation lights the fuse. The supports of Zemmour and Macron who engage. To hit the only candidate who can beat Macron, they decided to let go of the dogs! retorted Jonas Haddad, one of the spokespersons for candidate LR, on Twitter. Dogs ? A reference, voluntary or not, to the fact that a member would have succeeded in registering his pet, without the right-wing party seeing anything wrong. On social networks, the teams of Zemmour, then those of En Marche made their headlines from the anecdote.
“This primary was exemplary” and “if there had been the slightest doubt regarding my election, it would have been contested”, said candidate LR on BFMTV on Wednesday evening, denouncing “pure controversy”. “I am the woman to be killed” and “the stink bombs have been coming at me in bursts since the beginning of January”, added Valérie Pécresse, indignant at the “level” of the campaign during a tense exchange with the journalist.
“To fall so low is not worthy of a political program on the presidential election. It’s not serious, ”she said when referring to the case of the dog registered with LR by his master. “That there may be a hoax, it can happen, it does not call into question the sincerity of the ballot,” she added.
The Republicans said they were going to file a complaint once morest Liberation
Denouncing an “attempt to destabilize”, Les Républicains said in a press release that they were going to file a complaint once morest the daily. “The Congress of Republicans has been exemplary in every way, both in its organization and in its mobilization”, assures the party, pointing out “approximations, innuendos and unfounded allegations” aimed “clearly at delegitimizing the candidate”. Reached by telephone, a Pécresse campaign executive shrugs his shoulders: “From what I see there, there’s nothing really industrial regarding it…”, he slips.
Not what, to hear him, taint the validity of the ballot. “For this vote in Congress, there were extremely meticulous checks. Our problem was rather that many members were excluded from the vote because they had not given the necessary elements to vote, “contested Senator LR Philippe Bas, also at the head of the control body of the LR Congress, at the microphone of Public Senate.
The first round of voting had been extremely tight between the LR leaders. But if no one will publicly hold Valérie Pécresse to account, the risk is that this media flurry will help to rock a campaign that is already facing difficulties internally.
