Emmanuel Macron was to hold his very first campaign meeting on Saturday in Marseille. It will ultimately not take place. The international situation is impacting the entry into the campaign of the president, who has still not officially declared himself a candidate. His adversaries are not spared, their agendas are turned upside down and the debate is almost exclusively centered on the war and its consequences. After the rebound of the health crisis this winter, the war in Ukraine now seems to relegate the campaign to the background. At 41 days from the first round of the election, on April 10, can this call into question the holding of the ballot?
“At no time was this considered by the executive or the government. Nor by the candidates. We are coming out of a two-hour meeting, no one is asking for it, ”assures a ministerial adviser following the meeting which was held this Monday in Matignon between Jean Castex and the main presidential candidates. “Nothing prevents us from talking regarding all subjects: Europe, sovereignty, defence, energy, etc. Besides, meetings and broadcasts continue, ”underlines a close friend of Emmanuel Macron.
The law does not provide for this
Moreover, the constitutional framework would not allow it. “To date, nothing would justify the postponement of the election”, slice bluntly the constitutionalist Didier Maus. Indeed, article 7 of the Constitution only provides for a postponement of the election in the event of the death or impediment of a candidate. “The election can take place under normal conditions, there is no blockage of institutions,” he continues. Professor of public law at the University of Lille, Jean-Philippe Derosier warns: “We must stop with this fantasy of the postponement of the presidential election. This is a question that had never been asked before the Covid. »
Moreover, a constitutional reform would have to be undertaken to modify the electoral calendar, since the duration of the presidential mandate is fixed by the Constitution. What no one considers for a single second.
As for the legitimacy of the ballot, might it be called into question while the campaign is invisible and some opponents of Emmanuel Macron fear that his position as “warlord” will benefit him? “These are the vagaries of democratic life”, retorts Jean-Philippe Derosier. On the contrary, he underlines, “it is precisely what makes it possible to confer the necessary legitimacy on the president, who is also the chief of the armies”.
