Jean-Luc Rotureau reconsiders his withdrawal, if ranked in third position after the first round

Après avoir indiqué qu'il se retirerait de la course à la mairie d'Angers s'il arrivait au terme du 1er tour en troisième position, Jean-Luc Rotureau fait marche arrière. Il n'est en effet pas très loin de l'objectif des 20% des voix qu'il s'était fixé puisque les sondages d'opinion le créditent de 17%, une situation qu'il sera, si elle est confirmée, "hors de question d'ignorer". 

Jean-Luc Rotureau would be changing his mind regarding his withdrawal in case of a third rank after the first round of municipal elections. If he made clear, before the release of the first opinion polls in February, that he would give up in case of a lower score compared to Frédéric Béatse, he recently back-pedaled. According to the news magazine L'Express, the left dissident candidate would regret his pormptness, what was already visible a few weeks ago (see "Jean-Luc Rotureau lingers doubts about his decision for the second round", Adn March 1st).

Refering to his first interview with Ouest-France in which he said he would step down, the dissident left candidate detailed that "It was a talk off the record. The gap [between himself and Mr. Béatse] will be anyway very close. If our score is about 20%, it will mean that a lot of Angevins see themselves in our project. Out of question to ignore their voices", stated Jean-Luc Rotureau. Morever, the two main opinion surveys about the voting polls, which diverge about the results of Frédéric Béatse and Christophe Béchu, converge regarding the result of Mr. Rotureau : 17%.

According to some observers of the Angers municipal elections, the supporters of Jean-Luc Rotureau come from the centrist part of the electorate what would explain the low score of the centre candidate, Laurent Gérault. And the opinion polls suggest that his supporters would not bring their votes to the outgoing mayor, Frédéric Béatse. The conservative candidate, Christophe Béchu, bets on a trilaterally for the second round in what would make likely his victory, writes the Express which stresses that Jean-Luc Rotureau's interest is to go on for the second round instead of disappear. He could then set a date for the next ballot. In 2020.