The early legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 in the 577 constituencies of France created many surprises, both on the side of the winning candidates and that of the losing ones. Among them, some well-known figures of the French political landscape.
Sometimes unexpected defeats
A bolt from the blue in Essonne, where after twenty-seven years representing the 8th constituency, the sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (Debout la France) lost his seat in a three-way race, beaten by the railway unionist Bérenger Cernon (NFP). Nicolas Dupont-Aignan had given up “ after careful consideration ” to present a list in the European elections of June 9 while the polls only credited him with about 2% of voting intentions. These legislative elections thus put an end to 27 years of presence of the politician in the National Assembly. When his defeat was announced, he seemed to be still on the attack by declaring in a video on X: ” I am not giving up anything, very soon there will be a new dissolution and we will offer them a political choice […] I continue the fight with Debout la France because France will be ungovernable. »
The outgoing MP for the 8th constituency of French people abroad, Meyer Habib (affiliated with LR), close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was defeated by Renaissance MP Caroline Yadan. Meyer Habib, elected since 2013, has experienced many sometimes very virulent exchanges with left-wing MPs since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.
A tireless defender of Israel, this 63-year-old Franco-Israeli has always assumed his friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu, even making it a campaign asset. Willingly eruptive in his positions, he had frontally opposed the deputies of La France Insoumise in the hemicycle in recent months on the question of anti-Semitism and the war between Israel and Hamas, the latter accusing him of excesses, including sometimes outside the Palais Bourbon.
The day after the first round on June 30, Jean Lassalle had only received 18.05% of the vote, a result he described as “ solid jerk ” but which had not made him give up, arguing wanting to block the RN and a candidate of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Thus narrowly qualified for the second round of July 7, the double presidential candidate (DVD), famous for his media outings, will not however return to the benches of the National Assembly that he had left in 2022 – he had not represented himself for medical reasons.
This Sunday, he was defeated in a three-way race in the 4th constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques by the outgoing NFP MP Inaki Echaniz and the RN candidate. Speaking to our colleagues at France Bleu, he said after the results: ” He who goes hunting loses his place “This is the first time that the shepherd has lost a local election.
As early as the first round on June 30, the leader of the French Communist Party Fabien Roussel announced that he had been eliminated by the RN candidate in the 20th constituency of the North, saying that ” beaten but not defeated “. ” Many of you will be disappointed both by the national results and also the results in this constituency where […] The National Rally candidate won in the first round with 50.3% of the vote. “, he declared on LCP, from Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.
The day after the second round on July 8, Fabien Roussel declared on BFMTV that he was ” It is impossible not to respond to what the French have just said. “, citing the requirement of ” regain purchasing power, public peace, public services “. ” Of course, we don’t have an absolute majority, but we want to do it. We are ready. “, he continued. He is one of the rare left-wing politicians, engaged in these legislative elections, to lose his seat.
Many Macronist figures were defeated on Sunday: ministers Stanislas Guérini, Sarah El Haïry, but also ex-ministers Nadia Haï and Olivier Véran.
The former Minister of Health, a leading figure in the fight against the Covid pandemic, and former government spokesperson, was thus beaten in the first constituency of Isère by a young activist invested by the New Popular Front (NFP), Hugo Prévost. I have known no greater honour than to serve my country and the inhabitants of this magnificent first constituency of Isère since 2012. In a three-way race against the candidates of the RN and the LFI, my team and I defended the values in which we believe. Hugo Prévost is now responsible for representing you in Parliament. “, wrote Mr. Véran on X. ” Tonight, my defeat is confused and faded behind the victory of a country that has once again said no to the extreme right. We came close. Let us take care of what unites us. On the other side of the summer, I hope, the time for reconciliation will come. ” he continued.
The trained neurologist had announced his reconversion into aesthetic medicine, after his departure from the government spokesperson position in January, before returning to the political arena on the occasion of these early legislative elections, being reinvested by Renaissance.
Notable victories
The contested president of the Republicans was re-elected in his stronghold of the Alpes-Maritimes. While it was not really a surprise, his rallying to the extreme right had shone a spotlight on his campaign.
As soon as the results of the legislative elections were known, and although victorious, he denounced to the press ” the political stew ” And ” the alliance of shame ” between ” Macronists, environmentalists, rebels, socialists, communists and friends of Mr. [Xavier] Bertrand ” Who ” brings power to the far left on a silver platter “.
At the start of the short legislative campaign, Eric Ciotti had reached an agreement with the National Rally, a decision that triggered an internal war within LR and a legal battle with the other party leaders, who sought to oust him from the presidency. But the courts had nevertheless rejected his exclusion three times. He therefore remains, to this day, president of the Republicans. No other LR leader had followed him in his alliance with Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
Three of the four LFI deputies “purged” by La France Insoumise and who still ran against candidates invested by the radical left movement won their bet on Sunday evening: Hendrik Davi, Danielle Simonnet and Alexis Corbière.
The latter was comfortably elected in the second round with 57.1% of the vote, against the official candidate of La France insoumise, Sabrina Ali Benali. It seems unlikely that Alexis Corbière, who was for a long time one of the most loyal lieutenants of LFI founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon, will sit with the rebellious group in the new National Assembly. Alexis Corbière has also financially attached himself in the prefecture to the French Communist Party by submitting his candidacy.
He and the other “purged” could take with them their “rebel” friends who had been invested by the rebellious leadership, despite their disagreements. François Ruffin, re-elected against the RN with nearly 53% of the votes in the Somme, has already announced that he would no longer sit with the Insoumis at the Palais Bourbon.
” I will not be an MP like the others, that’s for sure. “Seven years after handing over the keys to the Élysée to Emmanuel Macronthe former head of state (2012-2017), aged 69, won 43.10% of the vote, ahead of the far-right candidate and the outgoing right-wing deputy Les Républicains.
Faced with a ” exceptional situation “, he said he took a “ exceptional decision »: to regain the sash of deputy in Corrèze (central-west), which he had worn from 1988 to 1993 and then from 1997 to 2012. In recent days, François Hollande had cheerfully criticized Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly, considering that it intervened ” at the worst time and in the worst circumstances “.
François Hollande is the first former president to sit in the National Assembly since Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1984. I did not come to the National Assembly for any position and my destiny is fulfilled. “, he assured, specifying that if he was not ” not a candidate “To be Prime Minister, he believed” be useful » in terms of « foreign politic “.
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Emmanuel Tjibaou, 48, won the second constituency of New Caledonia by a landslide, with 57.33% of the vote, after an election marked by a record turnout. He becomes the second pro-independence MP in New Caledonia’s history after Roch Pidjot, elected from 1964 to 1986.
Above all, he is the first to achieve this feat since the division of the two Caledonian constituencies in 1986, decried by the pro-independence camp which considers them tailored to the loyalists. Visibly moved, Emmanuel Tjibaou called after his election to “rcreate the conditions for dialogue » on the public channel Nouvelle-Calédonie–La 1ère, claiming to be part of the Matignon (1988) and Noumea (1998) agreements, which brought about a period of peace after the quasi-civil war of the 1984-1988 period.
Read alsoFrench legislative elections: in New Caledonia, independence activist Emmanuel Tjibaou elected deputy
Former minister, senator and EELV MP Dominique Voynet, 65, will return to the benches of the National Assembly after her victory as an NFP candidate in the 2nd constituency of Doubs against an RN candidate.
Co-founder of the Greens in 1984, which she led in 1994 by dethroning Antoine Waechter, a supporter of “neither right nor left”, she was national spokesperson from 1992 to 1997 and national secretary between 2001 and 2003.
A member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1992, she was a Green candidate for the Elysée in 1995 and 2007 (3.32% and 1.57% of the vote). Elected as a member of parliament for Jura in 1997, the environmentalist resigned to become Minister of Regional Planning and the Environment in the Jospin government (1997-2001). The exercise of the “plural left” remains her model and she considers the NFP as her heir.
