Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister came first in the 6th constituency of Calvados, quite well ahead of Nupes.
Look for a legislative result near you
Elisabeth Borne is in the lead in the 6th constituency of Calvados with 32.39% of the vote. She spoke on BFMTV: “We are the only political force capable of obtaining a parliamentary majority. (…) We have one week left to obtain this strong and clear majority.” (…) “We have a week of mobilization ahead of us, a week to convince, a week to obtain a strong and clear majority.” (… ) “In the face of extremes we will not yield”. Good news in the Macron camp which is slightly ahead, but still ahead in this first round of the legislative elections by the Left Nupes alliance led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. A huge blow for the Together! coalition. The stakes were high for the current Prime Minister, newly appointed to Matignon. Noé Gauchard for Nupes totals 25.63% of the vote.
Elisabeth Borne voted this Sunday in Vire in Calvados, the department where she is a candidate in the 6th constituency. The Prime Minister faces a big challenge in the legislative elections. If the local risk is minimal for Elisabeth Borne, “parachuted” into a rather favorable territory in Normandy, the same is not true across the country, where the latest polls on these legislative elections have given the “New union popular, ecological and social” (Nupes) neck and neck with the Macronist troops.
In the event of a victory in a week, Elisabeth Borne will have taken a big step to establish herself as leader of the majority and of the executive, winning the loyalty of the figures of the Assembly and the government. Perhaps also from a few cumbersome allies (François Bayrou and Edouard Philippe, not to name them), at least for a time… But in the event of defeat – personal or collective – or relative majority, it is his position that would be immediately threatened. Elisabeth Borne, appointed Prime Minister in mid-May, will not have benefited from the slightest state of grace after her arrival at Matignon. From scandals to controversy, the new boss of the government, the second woman to hold this position after Edith Cresson, was pounded by the opposition, starting with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, against the backdrop of the legislative campaign. An election that could nip the new adventure of the former Minister of Labor in the bud. The result of Elisabeth Borne in these legislative elections will indeed be scrutinized from this Sunday, June 12, while the French vote for the first round of the ballot.
Because if the future of the second five-year term of Emmanuel Macron is played out during these legislative elections, it is also that, more personal, of Elisabeth Borne which is particularly at stake. The Prime Minister is traditionally the leader of the presidential majority during this appointment. But Elisabeth Borne is also a candidate herself in the 6th constituency of Calvados, in Normandy, where she has origins. The slightest misstep tonight could be sanctioned at the top of the state.
Nevertheless, Elisabeth Borne has little chance of losing at the local level, in her constituency of Calvados, because “parachuted” into a favorable territory. In the best scenario, she would therefore win hands down “at home” and if Together! were to impose herself at the national level during these legislative elections, Elisabeth Borne will have taken a big step to establish herself as the true leader of the majority and the executive, winning the loyalty of the figures of the Assembly and the government. Perhaps also a few cumbersome allies (François Bayrou and Edouard Philippe, not to name them), at least for a while…
Freshly appointed Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne will in any case have had to lead a double campaign, local and national, in addition to the major files of this beginning of the five-year term which are not lacking (purchasing power package with much-awaited aid to limit effects of inflation, new pension or education reform, ecological planning promised by Emmanuel Macron, etc.). This is not a first: Michel Rocard or Jean-Marc Ayrault had taken up the same challenge, one in 1988 and the other in 2012.
During this campaign, the Prime Minister, who has multiplied interventions in the media and trips to the field, ended with a handful of lightning raids in Versailles or even in the Côtes-d’Armor this week. During a meeting in Vire on Wednesday evening, in the 6th constituency of Calvados where she is herself a candidate, the Prime Minister again emphasized purchasing power and the measures promised by the government to respond to the inflation that is taking over the country.
After having assured that the State was not earning any money on fuel taxes, in the midst of soaring gasoline prices, the patron of the government reiterated her intention to “protect purchasing power”, in particular with the ” tariff shield” (on electricity and gas prices) extended until the end of the year and costing “20 to 25 billion in expenditure” for the State. Elisabeth Borne also returned to the aid for the most modest promised in September in the face of rising prices, with the direct payment of emergency compensation while waiting for a “food voucher”, as well as the revaluation of 4% of all retreats in July.
No doubt drawing lessons from the presidential election where the subject was put forward late, the Prime Minister is thus trying to hammer home that the government is acting for the portfolio of the French, at the end of a sluggish campaign. A legislative campaign dominated in the media by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Nupes who have constantly castigated the government’s record and intentions in the social field. Latest evidence: the outcry caused by Elisabeth Borne herself during an exchange on the radio with a disabled person on Tuesday.
The pangs of national politics will not have prevented Elisabeth Borne from leading a “field” campaign in Calvados according to those around her. Once the new government was appointed, she decided to maintain her candidacy in the 6th constituency of Calvados: at the Palais Bourbon, from Tuesday May 17, during a meeting with the deputies of the majority she tried to motivate her troops. “I see that you are all on the ground to carry our project. I am also in the campaign, I say it, I continue this campaign!”
Never elected, the former Minister of Labor, originally from Normandy, was in fact herself invested in the 6th constituency of Calvados, which had placed Emmanuel Macron clearly in the lead in the two rounds of the presidential election (31% of the votes in the first round ). She faces Noé Gauchard, a 22-year-old environmental student who represents Nupes in this constituency and Jean-Philippe Roy for the National Rally. Alain Touret, the outgoing LREM deputy, is leaving his post after three terms as a deputy since 1997. He was elected 5 years ago with 68% of the vote.
In an Ifop-Fiducial poll published this week, Elisabeth Borne was declared the winner with a first place in the first round and 39% of the vote. Noé Gauchard (Nupes) was credited with 26% of the vote when Jean-Philippe Roy (RN) was given 15% of the vote. The other candidates in the constituency are all below 10%, depriving them a priori of any chance of reaching the second round.
Who is Elisabeth Borne? Express Biography
Before being appointed Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne was Minister of Labor in the Castex government, after having held the portfolios of Transport and Ecological Transition since 2017. Relatively little known to the French, which can constitute “an asset” in her new functions, it was however “more so than were Édouard Philippe and especially Jean Castex” when they arrived at Matignon.
A graduate of Polytechnique, a tenacious technician, deemed loyal, Elisabeth Borne is in any case perceived by Macronie as having proven herself in government throughout the last five-year term. This former chief of staff of Ségolène Royal, who was also prefect and director of large public companies such as the RATP, also has the merit of belonging to the left wing of the majority, an asset in the run-up to the legislative elections and the he time when new social reforms are announced, starting with “the mother of battles” on pensions.
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Her appointment was, however, viewed with caution by some members of the presidential party, sharing the opinion of many pillars of the opposition on one point: Elizabeth Borne is above all a senior civil servant, with a sense of state that borders on administrative loyalty. The profile of this engineer would not be “political enough” in their eyes and should leave plenty of room for Emmanuel Macron in this perimeter.