On February 9, Elisabeth Borne will resume her mandate as deputy for the 6th constituency of Calvados. A seat previously occupied in the National Assembly by his deputy, Freddy Sertin.
Replaced in Matignon by Gabriel Attal, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic, Élisabeth Borne is now preparing to take on the role of deputy in the 6th constituency of Calvados, from February 9, 2024. A “return to normal” which does not create any particular enthusiasm in the territory. “We have no expectations. There is no consensus around it” say two residents of the town of Vire, the main town of the constituency in the columns of Le Parisien. We are far from the dream return.
A popularity rating at half mast before his return to the field
In Calvados, Élisabeth Borne was elected with 52.5% of the votes, facing Noé Gauchard, her opponent and representative of Nupes (48.5% of the votes) in June 2022. For him, precisely, the return of Elisabeth Borne is “not credible”. Since July 23, 2022, it is his deputy Freddy Sertin who has held the position of deputy and sits in the National Assembly.
But then, what will be the style of the ex-tenant of Matignon on the pitch? And on the benches of the National Assembly? Will she get involved locally and bounce back after seeing her popularity deteriorate month after month while she was at the head of government? According to the Elabe barometer for the daily Les Échos released on January 4, 2024, only 23% of respondents trusted him to “effectively confront the main problems” of the country. To build up your confidence before returning to your role as deputy, we will come back.
The longevity record for a woman in Matignon
Often heckled by the opposition for the frequent use of the highly contested article 49.3 of the Constitution as Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne will leave the memory of a period of political time thwarted by the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly for the presidential majority. If she broke the longevity record for a woman in Matignon, she also stood up, particularly in the context of pension reform and the immigration bill.
“I wonder how long she will stay, waiting for a new mission”
For her opponent in Calvados, Noé Gauchard, Élisabeth Borne will be no less than a “ghost deputy, even though she could have weight. We will lose years. I wonder how long she will stay, in the meantime a new mission” he confides to our colleagues at Le Parisien. One thing is certain, Élisabeth Borne is eagerly awaited by local elected officials. And the former Prime Minister seems to have her work cut out for her. “The fight against medical desertification, the opening up of the Bocage and the Val-de-Vire college” are urgent subjects on which Pascal Martin, municipal elected official from one of the minorities of Vire-Normandy, seems to want concrete results, such as indicated in Le Parisien.
“So far, his communication has been rather meaningless,” he continues. Won’t Elisabeth Borne’s mission already be to reassure people on the ground before even undertaking the slightest action? The voters of Calvados remain suspicious for the moment, attentive to the next proposals of the elected official, and seem, for some, to have set the cursor of the requirement at the highest.