AFP
Legislative: “important to move away from extremes”, says Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama, the French basketball star, judged Thursday that it was “important to move away from extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours”, in response to a question from the press on the political context in France.”Of course, political choices are personal but for me it is important to move away from the extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours”, declared, to about the anticipated legislative elections, the basketball player, interviewed during a press conference of the Blues at Insep, in Paris, before the Olympic Games. Wembanyama (20 years old, 2.24 m) was in 2023 the first Frenchman chosen in first position in the NBA draft, by the San Antonio Spurs. His comments, before the first round of the early legislative elections on Sunday, echo those of Kylian Mbappé. The star and captain of the French football team had said on the 16 June, on the eve of the Blues’ first match at Euro-2024, to be “against the extremes”. “I call on young people to go and vote, we see that the extremes are at the gates of power, we have the opportunity to choose the future of our country,” said the future Real Madrid striker. “We need to identify with the values of tolerance, diversity and respect. I hope that we will still be proud to wear this jersey on July 7 (date of the second round, Editor’s note),” he added. The day before, another Blues striker, Marcus Thuram, had taken a position by clearly calling for a barrier to the National Rally (RN) on June 30 (1st round) and July 7. Several dozen French sports figures also called for voting against the far right in a column in L’Equipe. Questioned on Thursday, the captain of the French basketball team, Nicolas Batum, simply called for people to go and vote, because “it could be a very good thing that the level of abstention be very low”. “Afterwards, I don’t live in France (he has been playing in the United States since 2008, Editor’s note) (…), I cannot judge people’s lives on a daily basis, so I can push or influence,” he added. Everyone must form their own opinion about what they experience, what they think is good for the country and from Sunday do their job as citizens,” continued Batum.nk/gk
