DUPONT-AIGNAN. In 2022, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan was a presidential candidate for the third time. With only 2.1% of the vote, he was eliminated in the first round, and called to vote for Marine Le Pen. The legislative elections are approaching: will the sovereignist of Debout la France present himself without an alliance?
Unlucky candidate in the presidential election, with a modest score of 2.1% of the vote obtained on April 10, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan called to vote for the RN candidate in the second round. A configuration that could have been similar to that of 2017, when he sided with Marine Le Pen in the name of a future “pact” which would have allowed him to be his Prime Minister if she had acceded to the Elysée. But things have changed a little: at the time, NDA had reached 4.70% of the votes cast: this time, the dynamic of the useful vote which irrigated the election did it a disservice, since the electorate of extreme right or the sovereignist right turned to Marine Le Pen, who rose to 23.15% of the vote. Not to mention the surprise candidacy that shook up the election: that of Eric Zemmour, who obtained 7.1% of the vote. In addition, this time, his support for Marine Le Pen was more formal, without a request for rapprochement.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan is deputy for the 8th constituency of Essonne since 1997; he is again a candidate to retain his mandate for the next 5 years. The one who was also mayor of Yerres seems reluctant to join the “coalition of the rights”, this rallying call launched by Eric Zemmour, and which Marine Le Pen has already declined. However, will he launch himself into the race for the legislative elections?
Already in 2017, even though his agreement with Marine Le Pen allowed him to be present everywhere in the legislative elections, the RN (FN at the time) having promised not to compete with him in fifty constituencies, he had gone same candidate in the 8th constituency of Essonne. Anxious to “stay free”, he followed the choice of his political party which, during a “great debate”, had decided to play it solitary in the legislative elections, as detailed Le Figaro. He had then promised that he would leave the town hall to run, while remaining a municipal councilor. A word he kept, the law having forced him to choose between two executive mandates. Nicolas Dupont Aignan was fairly easily re-elected MP for the 8th constituency of Essonne, as in every legislative election since 1997. With such a presence in the local politics of this region, he seems able to stand without having to resort to a political alliance in his constituency.
And in fact, with regard to the June legislative elections, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan projects himself without the RN. In a video posted on his Twitter account on April 30, he announced that he was “resuming the electoral fight” for the “third round”. Saying he was happy to “fight” in all the towns in his constituency, he once again claimed to be a “Gaullist” and a “patriot”. However, he admitted that this “fight” would not be easy, given that he achieved his worst score this year in Yerres in three participations in the presidential election. Mayor of this city for 22 years, he was however only supported by 10.8% in the first round of the election, far ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s 27.6% and Jean’s 21.6%. -Luc Melenchon. The observation is even harder when we look at the scale of the 8th constituency: he only won 6.4% of the votes cast, falling to 5th position: a brutal score for an outgoing deputy.
If we take the scores of the candidates in the first round of the presidential election across the 8th constituency of Essonne, we find his far-right rivals ahead of him: Marine Le Pen at 15.19%, and Eric Zemmour at 6.9%. The chances for the outgoing MP to win the legislative elections in his stronghold seem narrow, of course, but this does not mean that he will accept the rallying call of the president of Reconquest!. Indeed, the day after the second round, Eric Zemmour began his far-right crusade to try to convince the RN, DLF and LR parties to join him in a great “coalition of the rights”. To make this “national camp” triumph in the legislative elections, he even assured: “We will not present a candidate against Marine Le Pen, Éric Ciotti and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. The national union in action” on April 27th. Like the RN, DLF representatives declined this proposal: “Local agreements do not exist”, responded in particular by the Norman section of the party (as reported by West France).
Despite the distances he has taken with certain figures of the extreme right, the sovereignist does not compete alone in the legislative elections. Indeed, it is under the banner of the “Union for France” that he will present himself, under a party agreement with Les Patriotes, chaired by Florian Philippot, and the Generation Frexit movement. Together, they hope to present their candidates in 500 constituencies, which would mean competing with the RN and Reconquête!.
Former right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, Florian Philippot had already formalized his support for DLF on March 14, when he failed to obtain the 500 signatures necessary to run for president. “For the first time, the patriots, the Gaullists and the sovereignists are building a real dynamic of gathering”, to defend “public freedoms, the independence of France and a social model so harshly attacked by Emmanuel Macron”, had-t-t he writes in a press release published by Les Patriotes, his party. Their “Union for France” alliance is therefore launched.
In 2017, with 1,695,000 votes, Nicolas Dupont Aignan had collected 4.70% of the final votes, placing him in 6th place in the first round. He was then an ally on whom to count, so that Marine Le Pen had offered him a “pact”, called “government agreement” so that he could negotiate seats with her in the legislative elections, but above all so that he would receive of the post of Prime Minister if elected. “It must be said, he has the same convictions. There are many things that mean that we could at least engage in discussions. I wish so”, had hammered Marine Le Pen on several television sets at the time.