The defeat was harsh. With less than 5% of the votes in the presidential election, Valérie Pécresse did not reach the minimum threshold to obtain reimbursement of her campaign expenses. Personally in debt to the tune of 5 million euros, the ex-candidate of the Republicans would still have collected most of the necessary sum. According to party boss Christian Jacob, the call for donations from supporters would be “almost complete”. “Not quite, but practically”, he added, Thursday, May 26, at the microphone of RTL.
As a reminder, Valérie Pécresse has until May 31, the deadline for the Electoral Commission, to pay off her debts. Also president of the Île-de-France region, the ex-minister had to borrow in her name, her party being already too indebted to take on an additional loan. Like the Sarkothon of 2012, the Pécressethon would therefore have won its bet with the donors, despite the disappointing result of the former candidate. According to his campaign treasurer, Les Républicains still gave 1.7 million euros to the kitty. “About 300,000 euros are missing,” Philippe Mouiller told Le Parisien.
Credited with only 4.7% of the votes in the first round, Valérie Pécresse received only 800,000 euros in reimbursement from the State. His appeal for donations was a question of the “survival” of the Republicans, although the ex-minister of Nicolas Sarkozy holds the richest heritage of the ex-pretenders at the Élysée. The former president, who did not call to vote for candidate LR, also added to the kitty with a transfer of 2,000 euros. A donation that the interested party returned to the sender. “She’s a woman of honor,” her entourage told Agence France-Presse.
