Cruel, these senatorial elections in Touraine which are looming in the fall: with a victorious left in the municipal elections in Tours in 2020, the right which until then enjoyed the three senator positions offered by Indre-et-Loire will lose at least one seat in the Senate, the left almost automatically recovering a place, given the indirect voting system.
By Josephine
We were therefore heading towards a traffic jam of applications on the right, announcing a tight game, but thank God, the announcement of the retirement of outgoing senator LR Serge Babary relieved part of this political family. Very quickly, moreover,
Jean-Gérard Paumier threw himself on the vacant folding seat, even though he was elected president of the Departmental Council of Indre-et-Loire not so long ago – in the summer of 2021 – and this for a term of seven years. Semi-elegant attitude towards the voters who trusted him, you might say, but hey, everyone does it like that in the industry. Didn’t Babary leave his term as mayor halfway to go purr under the golds of the august upper house in 2017?
But beware, it’s never easy, musical chairs at such high levels. Paumier first had to convince outgoing Senator LR Isabelle Raimond-Pavero to line up behind him and probably lose his place, in a sublime sacrifice. Then chaos, pebble in Paumier’s patent moccasin: the president of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts – the cult Gérard Bobier – came out of the woodwork and announced his candidacy, convinced to siphon off enough votes from right-wing elected representatives from small towns to try their luck. Finally, the outgoing centrist senator Pierre Louault, also leaving for a well-deserved retirement, gave way to… Louault Vincent, his son, in a moving passing of the family torch so typical in our regions. The son has the support of a whole network of elected officials in Lochois as well as heavyweights in the area such as the deputy Henri Alfandari and the boss of bosses, Philippe Briand himself. Better still, it is downright Édouard Philippe and the Horizons party who also support this candidacy, which is therefore part under the best auspices.
Pick up on the right
From then on, Paumier had to resolve to properly calibrate his campaign to ensure his election in this complicated context. Some elected members of the majority on the Departmental Council are also amused by the little cordialities offered by the House: town halls have graciously received a bust of Marianne, elected officials have received a small book dedicated to Christmas, a subsidy to maintain the competitions sports of the UNSS was granted, for the greatest pleasure of the communes where there is a college. In short, something to make living together more fluid. But the problem is that Paumier has been overwhelmed by his centre-right, and he therefore finds himself having to seek the most right-wing and most Catholic voices, in particular from the elected representatives of the opposition in Tours or of certain corners of the department, for example Descartes or Ile-Bouchard, little known for their progressivism. Thus, Paumier has been appearing for months with Olivier Lebreton, former security assistant in Tours known for his security and conservative projections, just to show all the elected LRs of the department that he will not hesitate to take a hard line. in the Senate, without selling himself to the macron-compatibles of Horizons. And to seduce the Catholic segment of his potential electorate, Paumier relied on Cécile Chevillard, elected opposition member in Tours, known for her traditionalist positions, her support for the Manif pour Tous tendency Civitas and her proximity to the RN and Reconquête. via in particular Stanislas de La Ruffie, local figure of the reactionary movement, tending to the chatelain.
This strategy of the saber and the brush became explicit during the Night of the Common Good organized a few days ago by the cathosphere of Tours, as mentioned in my previous article. During this private fundraising evening for charity – and tax exemption – Cécile Chevillard was invited to give an inaugural speech as an elected representative of the Departmental Council, without anyone really understanding in what capacity she was speaking. Speech also noticed – in an embarrassed silence -, in particular the tirades on “Touraine blessed land of the Gods” which left a bittersweet taste to part of the assistance, blown by so much secularism on the part of a elected by the Republic.
25,000 euros for saucepans?
Interesting detail, among the associations participating in the evening and asking for money, we found the Café Joyeux, which opened a few months ago on avenue Grammont in Tours and whose goal is the integration and empowerment of people in disability by offering them a job. In reality, it’s a kind of channel present almost everywhere in France and identified by the press as coming from fundamentalist, anti-abortion and ultra-conservative Catholic circles. What was not the surprise of a certain number of elected members of the Departmental Council and social and cultural actors who are witnessing repeated reductions in their budgets, to see that this Friday, June 30, during the the departmental assembly, it is proposed to allocate an exceptional subsidy of 25,000 euros to… Café Joyeux de Tours.
Asked in committee by the opposition about this funny choice and the coincidence of the dates between the charity evening and this grant, Paumier seemed on the defensive. He says he consulted the prefectural services on the legality of such a subsidy, in a visibly relative serenity. Faced with the vagueness of the purpose of this subsidy, he specified that it is to buy kitchen equipment, and this while the Café Joyeux is brand new and already offers catering. Asked about the social and employment conditions offered by the Café Joyeux, he replied that he wanted to find out as soon as possible, kicking in touch, a little embarrassed. Moreover, neither the office of Mr. Paumier nor the communication services of the Departmental Council wished to respond to my four inquiries on this subject.
We are not going to lie to each other, the suspense is limited and barring a huge surprise, Vincent Louault, Jean-Gérard Paumier and the very light socialist trend Pierre-Alain Roiron will leave to represent Touraine in the Senate. But this fairly confidential election which does not excite the crowds says a lot about the local reconfiguration of the balance of power on the right between LR and Horizons, just as it says a lot about the dynamics on the left, we will come back to this soon…
More info otherwise on Magcentre: Night of the Common Good: when the cathosphere is displayed in Tours
2023-07-01 00:35:25
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