Le World keeps the logbook for the 2022 presidential election campaign: a daily update is published every evening at 7 p.m. which reviews the political events of the past day and discusses upcoming meetings.
News of the day. Candidates call for light to be shed on Jeremy Cohen’s death
The revelation of the circumstances of the death of Jeremy Cohen, this 31-year-old young man hit by a tram after being hit by young people in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), on February 16, arouses the indignation of the candidates for the presidential election, a few days before the first round.
“We have all been devastated by the scenes that have been made public and I want to express my solidarity and my support for the family of Jeremy Cohen”said candidate president Emmanuel Macron, Tuesday, April 5, during a trip to Spézet (Finistère). At his request, his office had called the parents of this young man of the Jewish faith the day before.
The other candidates for the Elysée, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fabien Roussel, Yannick Jadot and Marine Le Pen, also demanded that all the light be shed on this drama, evoking the possible anti-Semitic nature of the violence that they targeted him. Valérie Pécresse mentioned in particular on Monday a “despicable lynching, which could be anti-Semitic in nature”and pleaded for a “zero impunity against barbarians”.
Read also: Death of Jeremy Cohen in Bobigny: opening of an investigation for “intentional violence in meetings”
It was the far-right candidate Eric Zemmour who was the first to react. In one of his Twitter posts on Monday, he wondered about the death of Jeremy Cohen: “Did he die to escape scum? Did he die because he was a Jew? Why is this case hushed up? » In the evening, the young man’s father explained on BFM-TV to have “asked Eric Zemmour” to help her relay the information about her son’s death.
Asked whether Mr. Zemmour had been the first to speak, Mr. Macron replied on Tuesday that “human tragedies happen every day [mais] they must not give rise to political manipulations of any kind”.
The Bobigny prosecutor said at the end of the day that the violence which preceded the death of Mr. Cohen, did not, at this stage of the investigation, “discriminatory grounds”.
Picture of the day. Walkabout for the candidate president
Five days before the first round, while Marine Le Pen is getting closer to him in the voting projections, there is no crowd bath that is too much for Emmanuel Macron. The presidential candidate was, in fact, on a campaign trip to Spézet (Finistère), this Tuesday at midday, in the constituency of his faithful support Richard Ferrand, president of the National Assembly.
On the occasion of this stroll on the village square, the outgoing Head of State spoke in front of nearly 500 people, to affirm that he does not wish “not doing five more years to do five more years (…). The world has changed, it is not the same as five years ago. The commitments I made five years ago, I tried to keep them and I kept them”.
Coming to discuss, among other things, Europe, Mr. Macron added: “The project in which I believe is a stronger France in education and health. (…) The France of equal opportunity, power and economic independence. All of this will only happen if our France is stronger in Europe and if we have a European vision. » By the way, he took the opportunity to castigate “the deadly project” by Marine Le Pen “leaving the euro and Schengen”.
Phrase of the day. Eric Zemmour on the Boutcha massacre
“I’m just saying: beware of images”
The Reconquest candidate! called on Tuesday at the « prudence » after the broadcast of images of the massacre of civilians in Boutcha. This Ukrainian city, located in the suburbs of kyiv, was occupied by the Russian army since the outbreak of the conflict, before being liberated at the end of last week by the Ukrainian forces. The army and the media discovered in the streets of the city more than 400 bodies of civilians lying on the ground.
“I’m just saying: beware of images”advanced Eric Zemmour, Tuesday morning on the set of France 2before adding: “We must be sure that these massacres are the work of Russian troops. » Waving the specter of possibilities « manipulations d’images » that can take place during wars, he pleaded for“an international investigation” shed light on events. “If the facts are truehe added, it is absolutely infamous, despicable, horrible”and “we can only condemn”.
The argument used by the far-right candidate echoes that brandished by the Kremlin. The Russian government accuses the Ukrainians of “staging” and refuses to recognize the abuses committed by his army. Very popular on social networks, the Russian disinformation operation was countered by American satellite images published on Monday.
While France announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the candidate also said he did not see the ” report “ with the conflict: “It’s diplomatic fuss. It doesn’t change much. »
The day when, en 2012, the candidacy of Jean-Luc Mélenchon appealed to left-wing artists and intellectuals
Already in 2012, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was given as the third man in the presidential election in the polls – he will finally finish fourth (11.10%), behind Marine Le Pen (17.90%) – was trying to impose as a ballot runner-up, relying on distinctive rhetoric on the left. It then allowed him to attract the support of committed intellectuals, as the journalist Raphaëlle Besse Desmoulières narrates in an article dated April 5 and entitled “The springs and networks of the Mélenchon phenomenon”.
“Musicians, filmmakers, writers, sociologists, comedians: many of them have made their preference public (…), seduced by the tribunician qualities of the candidate » of the Left Front. This is the case of the singer Ridan who, on March 18, during the first “march for the VIe Republic ” of the candidate, heated the crowd massed place de la Bastille, while waiting for the speech of the leader. There are also these artists who showed their support for Mr. Mélenchon at the Bataclan on April 2, the singer Bernard Lavilliers, who praises “a certain nobility” of the candidate’s speech, or the sociologist Monique Pinçon-Charlot, thrilled by the pedagogical spirit and the “quality” of Mr. Mélenchon’s program.
For these artists and intellectuals who claim to be on the left of the left, the goal is to make their ideas exist, without giving a blank check to the Socialist candidate, François Hollande, given as the challenger of the outgoing President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Despite the “repeated betrayals” of the left in power and whatever their vision of the Socialist Party, they know however that they will vote for Mr. Hollande in the second round. The goal is, by then, to feel the pressure of the rest of the left on the socialist candidate. For the psychoanalyst Gérard Miller, this is the reason why “in the first round, the useful vote is not Hollande, but Mélenchon”.
Guillaume Herbaut’s campaign diary
For four weeks, the photographer Guillaume Herbaut publishes in The world, every day, a photo that tells the atmosphere of France during this presidential campaign.
On the walls of pavilion 6 of the Parc des expositions de la porte de Versailles, the posters “Youth is Pécresse” surround the public with five thousand activists, Sunday, April 3. A hundred young people from the Les Républicains party give everything for the last big meeting of Valérie Pécresse’s first round. They came with a drum, they wear white T-shirts with the candidate’s campaign logo and wave flags. They shout “Valerie! Valerie! Valerie! ». They sing “ If you vote for Valérie clap your hands! » They chant “Macron is Holland”. They are trying to launch, in the middle of a speech, a Marseillaise, with no direct effect on the room. They still believe in their champion.
Behind them, in the front row, older activists are not in a very good mood. In the name of Sarkozy, they no longer know whether to boo or applaud. They hunt photographers who hide their view: “Sit, lie down! » They ask young people to be quiet when they shout. “Hush! We hear nothing! »
At the end of the meeting, after the call launched by Valérie Pécresse, ” Join us ! Join me ! », young people go on stage. Some dance. Others take selfies. The old people have already left.
Agenda for Wednesday April 6
In the field. The environmental candidate, Yannick Jadot, is going to Strasbourg for a trip to discuss agriculture and the consequences of climate change on this sector and production. The sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan holds a meeting at 6 p.m. at Newcap in the 15e arrondissement of Paris, while the candidate of the New Anti-Capitalist Party, Philippe Poutou, is holding a meeting in the form of a “end of campaign party”in Bordeaux, from 6:30 p.m.
« Pieces of countryside”. After French youth, the environment, public services, housing and the perception of seniors in our society, the drafting of the Monde.fr meet you tomorrow at 9 a.m. on the site for a new special day “Fragments of the countryside” devoted to the European Union.
TV date. Emmanuel Macron then Marine Le Pen are the successive guests of the political moment of the end of the 20 hours television news of TF1, entitled “10 minutes to convince”. Since Sunday and until Friday, two contenders for the Elysée follow each other every evening on the set of the chain.