Municipal elections 2020: Emmanuel Macron, a campaign manager at the Elysée<

“The key (…) is to have ambition and a plan. “Visiting June 24, in Marseille, where he had come to close the summit of the Mediterranean countries, Emmanuel Macron summarized his philosophy for the municipal elections of March 2020. No question of lending to negotiations of apparatus to choose the candidates of The Republic on the Move (LRM) brought to stand for election. “The time is over for arrangements”, decided the head of state, for whom the compass must be the fight against the National Rally, which threatens to seize several cities.

Officially, Mr. Macron does not interfere in the preparation of the campaign of his movement. "I'm not into partisan politics," said the head of state in Marseille himself. The choice of LRM candidates? This role is played by the national commission of investiture (CNI), chaired by the deputy Marie Guévenoux and the senator Alain Richard, which auditions the interested parties then has its choice validated by the executive office. “That the president can watch, keep himself informed and interested in local situations, that seems natural to me. But in no case will he play the role of arbitrator, ”assured the boss of LRM, Stanislas Guerini, on June 17.

The reality is an open secret within the majority: the founder of En Marche! obviously has a ringside seat to oversee the casting of headliners, especially in big cities, and he doesn't shy away from doing so. "We consult him and we ask him for an opinion on the most complex cases", recognizes a leader of the movement. “He gives opinions, orientations. The phone works…”, euphemised another. Even Alain Richard, however touchy on the subject of the independence of the CNI, admits a form of interventionism. “Since Pompidou, no president has lost interest in municipal elections,” explains the former socialist.

“He is a very good technician”

Sign of this involvement, Emmanuel Macron took advantage of his visit to Marseille to take the pulse of the second city of France, where no LRM candidate is naturally required to succeed the mayor Les Républicains (LR) Jean-Claude Gaudin, who does not does not represent itself. On Sunday evening, the Head of State dined with around twenty economic, social and cultural actors from the Marseille city, such as the director Macha Makeïeff, the former president of Orangina Jacques Pfister, or the ex- Olympique de Marseille footballer Mamadou Niang. On Monday morning, he also made a surprise visit to the northern districts of the city.

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