2023-07-05 16:14:48
Posted Jul 5, 2023 at 6:01 p.m.Updated Jul 5, 2023 at 6:14 p.m.
Who to succeed Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux? The Medef will appoint its new leader this Thursday, after a lackluster campaign that did not extinguish all doubts around an employers’ organization now facing a much less buoyant political context.
Open this Wednesday at the end of the day at 6 p.m., the ballot must be concluded less than 24 hours later, at 11:30 a.m., before the proclamation of the result at noon. A very marked timing, as the outcome of the vote seems to be: Patrick Martin is the overwhelming favorite against Dominique Carlac’h according to all observers, whether they are supporters of a camp or of the other.
Favorite Tag
The current deputy president since 2018 had already left with this label on his back when the campaign started on March 6. Five years of plowing the ground and the territorial Medef – which now concentrate 40% of the votes, against 30% in 2018 – had given him a head start. And all the more so as his main challenger – Alexandre Saubot – finally gave up. His solid campaign and his mastery of the issues have dispelled some of the doubts that remained about his ability to take on the number one costume.
Facing him, Dominique Carlac’h – already a candidate in 2018 and since spokesperson for the employers’ organization – has gone further. Too ? “She wanted to embody a form of break with the era of Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, but for that it would have been necessary to have a more disruptive program or to leave the authorities of the Medef a year earlier”, estimates a leader of professional federation.
His start to the campaign on societal issues raised a few eyebrows at Medef, as these are not necessarily the priority of the big voters in this election, which is very similar to the senatorial elections.
Many observers, however, believe that it has gained momentum since March. “She knows how to embody, probably more than Patrick Martin”, recognizes a leader of the employers’ organization, who judges that “the campaign has not led to anything irreparable between the two camps”.
The curiosities of employers’ democracy
Is a surprise still possible? “It’s improbable but not excluded, with a very curious voting system”, recognizes an old veteran of Medef. The number of voters (1,123 in total) was doubled compared to 2018, which makes voting discipline more uncertain.
Another curiosity of democracy with Medef sauce, each professional or territorial federation is assigned a number of electors according to its contributions. But the leader of each federation can very well then choose his electors himself, or even negotiate to vote in their place. Proxies are also possible, even though the ballot is electronic and should therefore have made it possible to dispense with this possibility.
“In 2018, the major federations had multiplied the reminder emails to enforce the voting instructions. This is less the case this year, ”also notes a very good connoisseur of Medef.
Campaign terns
These latest events come at the end of a campaign deemed dull by most observers. “It was quiet, almost too much, with fairly limited interest from the management community. It is to be hoped that this lack of interest does not relate to the Medef itself, ”underlines a key player in the organization.
This is not the first time that the raison d’être of the employers’ union has been questioned during the election of its president. The fact is that the big bosses are increasingly turned towards Afep – the lobby of the 115 main French companies – while the CPME has grown even more since the health crisis. Stuck between the two, the Medef must therefore demonstrate its usefulness and its influence.
And this even though the successor to Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux will have to face political winds that are much less buoyant. “We will have to fight so that the supply policy is not unraveled”, recognizes a leader.
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