Toulouse, stronghold of encounters. In the next three weeks, for the home stretch of the presidential campaign on April 10 and 24, the main candidates will stop in the capital of Occitania, with the notable exception of the favorite in the polls, Emmnanuel Macron – “ it is unlikely, ”slips an LREM deputy, and far-right candidates, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, who have not planned anything at this stage.
Yannick Jadot on March 16, Valérie Pécresse on March 18, Anne Hidalgo on March 26, Fabien Roussel on March 27 have announced their arrival and Jean-Luc Mélenchon is preparing for it for April 2. In this match of meetings, if we look at the gauge of the places selected, it is the leader of the Insoumis who wins the competition by far. In 2012, like François Hollande, he filled the Capitol. In 2017, on the Prairie of filters, the organizers, who broadcast a photo taken by drone, claimed 70,000 spectators. And that year, the first round of voting confirmed this status as No. 1: with 29.17% of the vote, the people of Toulouse placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the lead, just ahead of Emmanuel Macron (27.26%). .
Logically, the man of the giant meetings is high again. The campaign team wanted the Stadium, to change, with its more than 30,000 spectators. But the precious lawn made the Metropolis, owner of the place, say no. Yesterday, the organizers remained silent. Several options would be studied: the Jean-Jaurès alleys, the Ernest-Wallon stadium or a return to the Prairie des Filtres… One week before the first round, the Toulouse meeting is intended to be a springboard for whoever is leading the left, according to polls.

Reduced meetings

The Covid, or simply the state of forces, have reduced the format of other meetings. The meeting with Valérie Pécresse (LR) is an illustration of this. First fixed for March 19, the day of the commemoration of the attacks in Toulouse and Montauban, it was moved to 18, at 8 p.m. The new Parc des expos has just been revamped. Too far away, too big, too cold… judged the campaign team. The Pierre-Baudis congress center is now in the running. By the way, the gauge goes from 3000 to 4000 expected people to 1700.
Anne Hidalgo’s stage is in keeping. The Socialist Party reserved the Petit Palais des sports on March 26, at 3 p.m., and its some 2,000 places when, seven years ago, Benoît Hamon was still at the Zénith. Anne Hidalgo does not conclude her campaign in the Pink City, but the page of this tradition had already been turned in 2017.
With his “Tour of the Possible”, Yannick Jadot (EELV) calls for small meetings and innovation with public speaking, on a stage, in the center of a square. In Toulouse, it will be March 16, at 1 p.m., square de Gaulle. In Montpellier, 600 people listened to José Bové and then the environmental leader. For Fabien Roussel, the Communists rented the Halle aux grains on the 27th, at 3 p.m. The departmental secretary of the PCF, Pierre Lacaze, is counting on 2,200 people, or even more with an external broadcast. Nathalie Arthaud (LO) will be in the Sénéchal room (200 people) on March 17 at 8:30 p.m. A Sénéchal room that Eric Zemmour’s activists filled on February 16, the day the President of the Republic visited Toulouse. Without its candidate, Reconquest thus holds discreet meetings of members.