Pierre Gasley has joined a manifesto signed by some fifty French athletes and former athletes calling for the blockade of the extreme right, as the second round of the presidential elections between the current President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron Y far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Like five years ago, the second round of the French presidential elections will confront Macron, French president since 2017, and Marine Le Pen, on April 24. The candidate of the National Group, a far-right party, seems closer than ever to being able to assume responsibilities according to the different polls and that has provoked the reaction of Gallic citizens who want to stop the advance of ultra-conservative politics.
In this context, many politicians and personalities from various backgrounds have already called for a ‘cordon sanitaire’ against Le Pen. This Tuesday, the platform of athletes joined this claim, among them, the Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasli, but also other big names in French sport such as Brahim Asloum, Alain Bernard, Stéphane Diagana, Céline Dumerc, Antoine Dupont, Nikola Karabatic, Laure Manaudou, Frédéric Michalak, Yannick Noah, Jean-Pierre Papin, Tony Parker, Marie-José Pérec, Thibaut Pinot and even Jackson Richardson.
The text promoted by the platform of French athletes asks for the vote for President Macron to stop Le Pen. The manifest says this:
“‘I declare open the Paris Games that celebrate the 33rd Olympiad of the modern era.’ After a historic opening ceremony on the Seine, among dozens of heads of state, in front of athletes from around the world and billions of spectators, whoever is elected on April 24 will embody the country in the eyes of the world. Later, he or she will also open the Paralympic Games. We French athletes from all walks of life and from all disciplines cannot imagine that this historic moment is marked with the stamp of a far-right presidency. If we are fully aware of the difficulties that many French people are going through, we are convinced that voting for a party that would endanger republican values would be the worst remedy. What we believe, that of the values of Olympism, is made of friendship and respect; It is the place of diversity. Reject all discrimination. In all parts of the territory, in our cities, our suburbs and our fields, sport is a powerful remedy against exclusion. In these uncertain times, it is a meeting point. This is the case when an entire nation remembers that it is ONE by vibrating in unison behind the exploits of its athletes. It is because we believe in this sport, fraternal and inclusive, that we are committed to preventing our nation from placing at its head a president who embodies the opposite, the stigmatization of the other, the withdrawal into oneself, nationalism. And that, therefore, we call to vote for Emmanuel Macron on April 24.”