While the French will go to the polls for the second round of the legislative elections this Sunday, June 19, the Nupes and the presidential coalition are drawing their last cards to bring together abstaining voters.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, an important department for the Union of the Left (Nupes), the rebellious leader came first in all the constituencies in the 1st round, despite the record abstention of 61% in the first round of the legislative elections. In the campaign between the two towers, Jean-Luc Mélenchon made young people from working-class neighborhoods who did not vote a priority target, in particular in the 3rd district of Seine-Saint-Denis in Noisy-le-Grand. .
Thomas Porte, the Nupes candidate, has an obsession: to convince the abstainers and especially the young people. ” We must vote on Sunday, do not forget, ” he shouts at passers-by. His target: Emmanuel Macron. “ If you move on Sunday, you can truly take control of your destiny. You can win. I count on you ? “. “Ah, I wasn’t going to vote anyway. I’m not hiding it from you. There, you weren’t there. I would have given up”answer a young person to the candidate of the Union of the left.
” It is to them that we address ourselves. To those who did not speak on 1er round and who nevertheless do not want a majority of Emmanuel Macron, do not want a deputy of Emmanuel Macron says Thomas Porte to Pierre Olivier, from the political service of RFIreferring to Patrice Anato, candidate of the presidential majority that he will face this Sunday.
►To read: French legislative: Nupes bets on abstainers for the second round
The speech of the candidate’s team is well established and it seems to work! Activists: Abstention will work in favor of Emmanuel Macron. Bernard Arnault, he is going to vote! “I did not go to vote at 1er turn, but I’m going to go and vote”, we answer him. “The fact that it’s a bit of a referendum against Macron, I think that will motivate them to vote, yes”
Thomas Porte accuses the outgoing deputy LREM: “ Those who engage in politics, who are elected and who behind do not respect their word, who are not present, discourage people who say to themselves: what is the point of going to vote in the end? Coming second, the deputy Patrice Anato is also eyeing the abstainers: “ Those I’m going to get is to convince them, because what’s going to happen on Sunday is a referendum for or against democracy”.
Referendum against Macron or for democracy. In this home stretch, it is up to the one who will have the most shocking formula to convince the abstainers, sometimes to the detriment of the substantive program.
► Listen again to the Guest France: Cédric Briolais (Nupes): “We have another social project than that of Macron”
The presidential majority, too, in search of allies
The greatest uncertainty reigns in the camp of President Macron around the final result. The presidential alliance could indeed not obtain an absolute majority and the union of the left could come into force in the Assembly.
Among the symbolic places of this election, the 7ᵉ constituency of Val-de-Marne in the Paris region where the former Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu is in a bad position facing one of the new figures of the left, the activist for the rights Rachel Kéké workers.
” I hope we can count on you, it will be decided by a few hundred votes “. Roxana Maracineanu tows tirelessly on the Thiais market. The 1st round left the ex-minister 14 points behind his competitor Nupes in a constituency nevertheless held by the presidential camp. It is therefore urgent: I appeal to all those who do not want an insubordinate France to govern this country”, she explains at the microphoneAurelien Devernoix, from the political service of RFI.
And among these, there are the 18% of voters who voted for the right in the 1st round, like Philippe, stopping for long minutes to chat with the candidate. “You still represent a certain France that we have known and that we have always defended. We will vote for her, that’s for sure “.
► To read: France: faced with the breakthrough of the Nupes, Emmanuel Macron dramatizes the issue of the legislative elections
The sonorous laughter of Rachel Kéké resonates in the streets of Fresnes, a few kilometers away. It’s also time for the all-out campaign for the Franco-Ivorian who is still struggling to achieve her score from the 1st round: “To Rungis where we didn’t even go to tow, we said to ourselves: no, it’s a right-wing town, it’s not going to pass. But there, I passed the bar of 5%”.
But his reserve of votes is rather among the abstentionists. Towing and door-to-door follow one another. Not enough to scare the one who made a name for herself by defending her fellow chambermaids against the hotel group that employed them, and her boss has just called her to support her. A sign of fate, wants to believe in Rachel Kéké.
► To read: Legislative: towards a historical recomposition of the National Assembly?