Valérie Pécresse on Monday called for “emergency help” from the French to “complete the financing” of her campaign, reporting a “critical situation” of LR which will not be reimbursed for “7 million euros”. ‘euro’ fee.
“Republicans can’t afford these expenses”, added from the party headquarters the candidate LR, who comes out of the first round below the 5% threshold triggering a reimbursement by the State of campaign expenses. She also said she was “personally in debt to the tune of 5 million euros”. That is why “I need your help, urgently, by May 15, to complete the financing of this presidential campaign (…) The survival of the Republicans is at stake, and beyond the survival of the republican rightshe launched in front of the press.
“This morning I am launching a national appeal for donations, to all those who have given me their votes but also to all those who yesterday preferred the useful vote, and finally to all French people attached to political pluralism and freedom of expression”, she added, specifying that donations could be made online on the site valeriepecresse.fr. The traditional right experienced a historic crash on Sunday in the first round of the presidential election, Valérie Pécresse falling to around 5% of the vote according to estimates, which complicates the future of the Republicans, forced to rebuild under penalty of disappearing.
Credited with 17-18% of the vote in January, Valérie Pécresse then appeared capable of qualifying for the second round. But it continued to decline thereafter, weighed down by its failed meeting of February 13 at the Zenith, among others. This is the second time that the main right-wing party has failed to pass the first round of the presidential election: in 2017, François Fillon had scored 20%, which was then the worst score for a right-wing presidential candidate. Since then, LR has experienced a new trauma with François-Xavier Bellamy’s 8.5% at the 2019 Europeans, and on Sunday the party seemed to hit rock bottom.