After a difficult week, Valérie Pécresse went on the counter-attack on Thursday February 17, denouncing a « Pécresse-bashing », orchestrated according to her by “the macronists” to discredit it.
“It seems for a few days that I am the woman to be killed”launched the candidate, during a public meeting in front of around 600 people in Mouilleron-le-Captif, in the suburbs of La Roche-sur-Yon. “Some would like to caricature me by making me a portrait that is not mine”she added, assuring: “Me, I’m like a Vendée sailor, I chart my course. »
Candidate LR had previously been more specific, denouncing “a rising controversy”. Most “Nothing in my speech or in my attitude accredits the “Pécresse-bashing” of which I have been the victim for a week”she said during a conversation on the sidelines of the trip, denouncing “a strategy totally orchestrated by the macronists who want to discredit me”.
“I see in the violence attacks since January, because I am their only target, the unhealthy game” of the presidential party, “Who wants to be alone with Marine Le Pen”, she added. Emmanuel Macron “wants an election of automatic renewal but I will not let it happen”she promised.
“A sentence diverted from its meaning”
Valérie Pécresse suffered this week the defection of several members of LR in favor of Emmanuel Macron, the murderous remarks lent to Nicolas Sarkozy and, above all, strong criticism following a meeting deemed a failure in front of 7,500 people, Sunday, at the Zénith de Paris , the first of this magnitude.
The candidate, visibly uncomfortable in the exercise, mentioned in particular the “great replacement”, which shocked even in his camp. She has for several times defended herself from any nod to the far right. “I am told the opposite of what I say”she assured Thursday, regretting that the controversy overshadowed her project of ” New France “.
“There were extremely strong measures in my speech, on school, reindustrialisation, the citizens’ initiative referendum, rurality, culture… and only one sentence comes out totally diverted from its meaning! It’s absurd “she said.
At her public meeting on Thursday, she outlined the outline of this project, describing herself as “a social Gaullist”. She then spent a long time discussing with the room, an interactive format that she masters better, answering their questions regarding housing, youth…
Friday on the land of Eric Ciotti
This counter-attack comes as candidate LR is in difficulty in several polls, which place her behind Eric Zemmour: on Thursday, an Odoxa study credited her with 12% of voting intentions (– 7 points compared to December 2021), once morest 14% to Eric Zemmour (+2) and 18% to Marine Le Pen (+1). Other polls put her in a tight spot with her far-right rivals.
Valérie Pécresse brushed off the subject, promising to lead “a campaign of determination” on the ground, as she was doing this weekend: Thursday in Vendée, the Mecca of a Fillonist electorate who might turn to Eric Zemmour, and Friday in the South, where the far right seduces voters.
After a trip to Mouilleron-en-Pareds (Vendée), the birthplace of Georges Clémenceau and Marshal De Lattre de Tassigny, she met at length with fishermen and farmers in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.
Friday, it must hold a new meeting in front of 2,000 people in the Alpes-Maritimes of Eric Ciotti.
