ReportageIn the former stronghold of François Fillon, a department anchored on the right, the campaign of Valérie Pécresse hardly arouses membership. Among Les Républicains activists, discouragement predominates less than two weeks before the first round of the presidential election.
The Mamers market is slowly awakening on Place Carnot. A few meters from the old halls, around twenty white trucks took their place on the central floor on Monday, March 28. The inhabitants of this rural town in the north of Sarthe, self-proclaimed “capital of the rillette”, take their time. Along the pharmacy, which borders the square, around 15 people are queuing for a Covid-19 test.
On the pediment of the town hall, held since 2014 by Frédéric Beauchef (Les Républicains, LR), a Ukrainian flag mixes with those of France and the European Union. Installed in front of the municipal building, twelve electoral panels, still empty: no poster has been pasted there, with the exception of that of the sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.
On the market, no one speaks spontaneously of the presidential election, which is nevertheless held in less than two weeks. “People are jaded or lost, they don’t know who to vote for, we first”, launches Nadège, the butcher of the Maison du boudin, while her husband rails against these candidates who offer retirement at 65. However, the couple always voted for the right. This time they don’t really know, don’t rule out voting blank. In any case, Valérie Pécresse, the candidate of LR, who according to them does not have the stature, will not have their voice. “We do not see who has the marrow to take France”they note, grateful, as if with regret, that Emmanuel Macron “hold on well”.
Further down the span, Jean-Michel Etienne notes that this campaign, “it’s dead calm”. This retiree is grand master of the brotherhood of knights of Sarthoise rillettes, and LR activist. He knows the former prime minister and ex-mayor of Sablé-sur-Sarthe well, François Fillon, who comes to his mansion in Beaucé on weekends, in Solemnes, in the south of the department. He even crowned it “officer” of his brotherhood. 1is March 2017, Jean-Michel was on the Pays de la Loire stand, at the Agricultural Show, alongside the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau, when the LR presidential candidate announced his indictment. François Fillon had to cancel his visit to the Salon, and his campaign, already polluted by the case of the fictitious employment of his wife Penelope, had taken a terrible turn, before sinking on the evening of the first round.
“Watching TV, I said to myself it’s badly crossed”
The episode has long haunted the Sarthe right but Jean-Michel ensures that it has turned the page. Like many others in this department historically anchored on the right, he thought that Valérie Pécresse, the first woman invested by LR, could save the party, relegated for ten years to the opposition. But he no longer believes in it since mid-February and the failed Zenith meeting in Paris. “Watching TV, I said to myself it’s badly crossed”, says the pensioner. He will vote for candidate LR “in principle”which is not the case for many of his friends, who will be shared between Emmanuel Macron and Eric Zemmour. “She did a good job in Ile-de-France but goes too badly in meetings, he summarizes. Today, the form counts as much as the content, sometimes more. It’s a shame but that’s the way it is. »
You have 71.85% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.