Matthew Balu
POLITICS – There should be twelve on the starting line. This Friday, March 4 marks the closing sponsorship of candidates for the Élysée for 2022. Only those who have obtained 500 will be able to participate in the 1st round on April 10.
More than forty names appear in the list of applicants to the Élysée published each week by the rue de Montpensier. Some are completely wacky, others are very serious. But now is the time for sorting.
This Friday at 6 p.m., all aspirants to the presidency must have reported themselves and obtained their 500 sponsorships from elected officials. In the coming days, the Constitutional Council will carry out final checks – on the declaration of assets in particular or the source of the sponsorships department by department – before the official publication of the list of participants in the first round on March 7 by Laurent Fabius.
Waiting for, The HuffPost takes stock of the applicants who have completed the first step: having at least 500 referrals.
Nathalie Arthaud
Sarah Meyssonnier via Archyde.com
Nathalie Arthaud is in her third presidential campaign under the colors of the Lutte Ouvrière party. It claims a “revolutionary communist” program and defends “the workers’ camp”. Its main objective is to ensure employment for everyone with “a salary allowing a decent living.”
In 2012, Nathalie Arthaud obtained 0.56% of the vote in the first round. She had done little better in 2017, with 0.6% of the vote. She is the 4th personality to have obtained his 500 referrals for the 2022 election and is credited with 0.5% of the voting intentions in the rolling FIFG.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan
Johanna Geron via Archyde.com
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, MP for Essonne, is the sovereigntist candidate of Debout La France. He presents himself as “the candidate for independence from France and freedom for the French. During the health crisis, he was one of the opponents of the health pass but also of vaccination.
Candidate in 2012 and 2017, he obtained 1.79% and 4.70% of the votes respectively. He is one of the last to have obtained the necessary sponsorships and is credited with 2% of voting intentions in the rolling FIFG.
Anne Hidalgo
POOL New via Archyde.com
Anne Hidalgo is the Socialist Party candidate. Mayor of Paris re-elected during the last municipal elections, she is participating for the first time in a presidential campaign. His pre-campaign was marked by divisions from the left and attempts – all of them unsuccessful – to rally.
She presents herself as the candidate for “reconciliation, recovery and prosperity of our country, around a republican, social and ecological project”. Despite her status as a representative of a historic party, it does not exceed 3% in the polls d’opinion.
Yannick Jadot
Johanna Geron via Archyde.com
Environmentalists have chosen Yannick Jadot to wear green. Becoming in September 2021, after a primary, the EELV candidate for the Élysée, Yannick Jadot defends a program “for the climate and social justice.”
The environmentalist got his sponsorships quite easily. However, although ecology stands out as one of the concerns of the French for this campaign – particularly among young people – it is struggling to exceed 5% in the polls. His pre-campaign will also have been marked by divisions on the left, the candidate refusing to reconsider the presence of the Ecologists in this election. In 2017, the Greens joined Benoît Hamon before the first round. But the socialist candidate had gathered only 6% of the votes.
John Lassalle
Stephane Mahe via Archyde.com
Second presidential candidacy for Jean Lassalle. In 2017, this former mayor, a time close to the MoDem and who became a deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques, obtained 1.21% of the vote.
From September 2018, he announced his candidacy for 2022 under the label of his “Résistons” party, which defends “an “authentic France” – the name of his program book – close to rural areas. He also made a tour of France to meet the citizens to offer them to fill in “Cahiers de l’Espoir”, “cousins of the notebooks of grievances, calling for the creativity of the people and not the revolution.” His candidacy is however the subject of criticism, for sexual harassment charges against him.
Marine Le Pen
Sarah Meyssonnier via Archyde.com
One more presidential for Marine Le Pen, the third. The daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen took over the torch for the Élysée in 2012 for the National Rally. The first of its 22 measures for 2022 concerns “stopping uncontrolled immigration by giving the floor to the French by referendum”.
During the pre-campaign, sponsorships gave Marine Le Pen cold sweats. In the last days, she suspended her field campaign to devote herself exclusively to their harvest. Mission that she ended up succeeding. Another novelty for the far-right candidate for this election: she must deal with a strong opponent at least as right as her, the former journalist Éric Zemmour. To the right of the right, he is the one most likely to take votes from her, even if she remains the best placed in the polls to reach the 2nd round.
Emmanuel Macron
Piroschka Van De Wouw via Archyde.com
The outgoing president announced his candidacy for a second term at the last minute, the day before the deadline, in a “Letter to the French”. At this stage, elements of his project for the next 5 years have been distilled by the ministers in office or himself, but nothing has been formalized. In a context of war between Ukraine and Russia, Emmanuel Macron will have to assume a triple costume: President of France, President of the Council of Europe and candidate. “In terms of form, this campaign will not be like the others,” warned Stanislas Guérini, general delegate of La République en Marche.
Despite international concerns, Emmanuel Macron can start this campaign relatively calmly: he is always given the second round of the election, and systematically winning regardless of his opponent. A YouGov survey for The HuffPost, his popularity rating gained 9 points to reach 40% favorable opinions. A score worthy of the start of his term, no doubt linked in part to his management of the war in Ukraine, which was well received.
Jean-Luc Melenchon
THOMAS COEX via Getty Images
This presidential campaign will be the last for Jean-Luc Melenchon. The MP for Bouches-du-Rhône once again represents his party, La France Insoumise. Its program “The Future in Common” was initially published in 2016 and updated since, according to the concerns and new proposals that have emerged over the past five years. His proposal for a Sixth Republic is still valid, and figures first in his program.
L’Insoumis refused all proposals for a rally on the left. In the polls, he is the best placed of all the candidates of this sensitivity, in 5th place with around 11% of the voting intentions. In 2012, he obtained 11.10% of the vote in the first round, before a breakthrough in 2017: he came 4th, behind François Fillon, with 19.58% of the votes.
Valerie Pécresse
Johanna Geron via Archyde.com
She already chairs the Île-de-France region and is now targeting the Élysée. Crowned in front of Éric Ciotti during the LR Congress, Valerie Pécresse made a promising start to the campaign before collapsing in February, after its meeting at the Zénith. Since then, she has been losing ground in the polls, between third and fifth place.
His speech for a “New France” takes up certain proposals from Eric Ciotti’s hard right. But the candidate LR also wants to seduce the disappointed electorate of Emmanuel Macron while standing out from the outgoing president.
Fabien Roussel
Sarah Meyssonnier via Archyde.com
Fabien Roussel is the first candidate of the PCF since Marie-George Buffet in 2007. The election ended in a debacle, with less than 2% of the vote in the first round. Then the Communist Party had preferred to stand behind other candidates of similar sensitivity, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2017.
Not this time. With his program “Happy Days”, Fabien Roussel tries to breathe new life into the communists. Without imposing himself in the polls – he is generally credited with less than 5% – he nevertheless succeeded to impose a certain dynamic from mid-January.
Eric Zemmour
Johanna Geron via Archyde.com
This is the candidate that no one expected. After a pre-campaign started under the guise of promoting his book, the former journalist and columnist formalized his candidacy and created his Reconquest! party. On the program, the fight against illegal immigration, Eric Zemmour’s number one priority. Always linking them to this theme, he lists various proposals on employment or purchasing power.
Éric Zemmour, credited with around 12% of voting intentions, is considered a serious competitor for Marine Le Pen – from whom he has taken several lieutenants – but also at LR, where he could seduce supporters of a more lasts than that of Valérie Pécresse.
Philippe Poutou
Gonzalo Fuentesvia Archyde.com
As of this writing, Philippe Poutou does not yet officially have his 500 signatures. But the NPA candidate, who has 439 validated sponsorships, assures that he will be in the nails this Friday 6 p.m.
Candidate for the third time, Philippe Poutou has rarely exceeded 1% of voting intentions in the FIFG rolling. In 2012, he garnered 1.15% of the vote, a slightly higher score than in 2017.
See also on The HuffPost: Sponsorships: Castex calls on elected officials to sponsor candidates “whoever they are”