No surprise for Valérie Hayer. The first results give the Renaissance candidate at 15%, far behind Jordan Bardella. A snub for Emmanuel Macron and the presidential majority.
22:12 – Hayer: “no political leader who loves France and who loves Europe can rejoice”
Head of the Renaissance list of the presidential majority during these European elections, Valérie Hayer reacted this Sunday evening, more than two hours after the announcement of the first estimates which see her list clearly ahead of that of the National Rally. “In today’s world, imagining being stronger by turning inward is an illusion. In today’s world, the interest of the country and that of the French is Europe”, she judged. “This is the fight of my life that I waged tirelessly during this campaign. Tonight, not a single politician who loves France and who loves Europe can rejoice.”
22:00 – Valérie Hayer did not speak following the result of the European elections
Head of the list of the Renaissance presidential majority, Valérie Hayer came in second position in the European election this Sunday June 9 with 15.4% of the votes according to the latest estimates, behind the National Rally. Since the publication of the first results at 8 p.m., the candidate has not spoken out to share her feelings about the election. On the other hand, Emmanuel Macron and Gérald Darmanin each spoke to confirm the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of new legislative elections on June 30 and July 7. The President of the Republic thus estimated that “this is not a good result for the parties which defend Europe, including the presidential majority”.
21:45 – What do the latest estimates say?
While Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly following the result of the National Rally in the 2024 European elections, what are the latest estimates of the result of this election? The ranking has not changed, but we note refinements in the figures. According to Ifop-Fiducial for TF1/LCI, the latest estimates give the presidential majority which had Valérie Hayer as head of the list the result of 15.4% of the votes, for 14 seats obtained in the European Parliament, far behind the 32.3% of the list led by Jordan Bardella (30 seats) and barely ahead of that of the Socialist Party/Public Square led by Raphaël Glucksmann (14.2% and 13 seats).
20:29 – First reactions in the majority, Bayrou calls for “reconstruction”
The list of the presidential majority led by Valérie Hayer comes clearly behind the RN list of Jordan Bardella. If the Renaissance list should appear in 2nd place ahead of the PS-PP led by Raphaël Glucksmann, the first reactions fell within the majority. François Bayrou calls for “a refoundation, a reconstruction of political life” after this new defeat.
20:19 – An “unprecedented gap between the presidential majority and the first opposition party”
18%: this is the gap that separates Valérie Hayer from Jordan Bardella. An “unprecedented gap between the presidential majority and the first opposition party [qui] reflects a scathing disavowal and rejection of the policy led by Emmanuel Macron”, affirmed the RN candidate. Emmanuel Macron’s party had never been so far behind the far-right formation, only 0.9 points separated the RN and LREM in 2019.
20:15 – “It’s a failure” for the majority
“It is of course a disappointment” for the majority, admits Labor Minister Catherine Vautrin. “We cannot rejoice in a result like this,” she added on BFMTV. For Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, “it is a failure” and “the President has a sense of responsibility.”
20:12 – A sharply falling score for the presidential majority
Valérie Hayer and the presidential majority recorded a sharp drop in the votes cast. In 2019, Nathalie Loiseau received 22.42% of the votes, or 7 points more than the candidate chosen in 2024 by Emmanuel Macron.
20:10 – Emmanuel Macron will speak
The Elysée has just announced it, Emmanuel Macron will speak this evening. It is not the practice of presidents to speak on the evening of European elections.
8:00 p.m. – 15% for Valérie Hayer according to first estimates
The first estimates of results have just been released. According to the Ifop-Fiducial institute, for TF1, LCI and Le Figaro, Valérie Hayer is credited with 15% of the votes, far behind Jordan Bardella (33%) and just ahead of Raphaël Glucksmann. The candidate and 13 other candidates on her list will therefore sit in the European Parliament for the next five years.
19:56 – A speech following the results
Valérie Hayer’s entourage indicated that the candidate should speak quickly after the announcement of the first results at 8 p.m. The MEP’s speech is expected around 8:15/8:45 p.m.
7:40 p.m. – First election for Valérie Hayer
These European elections are for Valérie Hayer the first election in which she is running as head of the list. Until now, she had not run for any elected office by displaying her name on the front line. Municipal, departmental, regional… She had never started. In 2019, she was elected MEP because she was 19th on the list led by Nathalie Loiseau. Will the result be higher than expected for the native of Château-Gontier (Mayenne)?
19:31 – A most difficult campaign for Valérie Hayer
The campaign of the head of the Renaissance list involves 48 trips in 25 departments, according to his team. A commitment on the ground certainly but a real difficulty in asserting oneself. “She is too much in the Renaissance system and found herself not armed enough to take on the fight against the RN,” lamented a local elected official from the majority among the Echoes. She would also have suffered from the seven years of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. “In 2019, Macron was the European. In 2024, Macron was the foil,” a pillar of the majority analyzed in Les Echos.
19:06 – Valérie Hayer returns home to close her campaign
Friday, for the last day of the campaign, Valérie Hayer went to Mayenne where she is from. She organized a “republican banquet” in Saint-Denis-d’Anjou and was joined by Gabriel Attal. The Prime Minister praised the merits of the head of the list: “we are proud to have the most talented, the most competent, the most serious, the most deeply passionate about Europe and its issues as head of the list”.
18:52 – Valérie Hayer changes strategy against Raphaël Glucksmann
Early in the campaign, Macronists identified Raphaël Glucksmann as a potential threat, capable of sucking in part of the left wing of the president’s electorate. Valérie Hayer’s first strategy was to underline the proximity of her list to that of the Place publique MEP, repeating that they voted on “90% of the texts together”.
But when Glucksmann’s rise in the polls threatened Valérie Hayer’s 2nd place, the strategy changed. We saw the presidential camp recall the links of the socialist party with La France insoumise by invoking the memory of Nupes, the alliance of the left in the legislative elections which has since been dissolved.
6:45 p.m. – A meeting at 7:15 p.m. at the Elysée
A meeting of the presidential majority will take place around Emmanuel Macron, at 7:15 p.m., at the Elysée. The members present are not known by Valérie Hayer should not be there in person, she who is already at the Renaissance HQ, at the Maison de la Mutualité.
It will therefore not have succeeded in reversing the trend. According to the first figures, Valérie Hayer finished in second position in the European elections, far behind Jordan Bardella. The candidate Renaissance, chosen to represent Emmanuel Macron and the presidential majority in this campaign, did not manage to create a surprise. The Ifop-Fiducial institute, for TF1, LCI and Le Figaro, gives it at 15%. With this score, she is re-elected to the European Parliament and 13 other candidates on her list will sit alongside her. However, it is a big setback for the party in power in France since the National Rally obtained a much higher score, announced at 33% for Jordan Bardella, with 31 elected officials. These are the first figures, which will be refined during the counting throughout the evening and the data will be updated.
Valérie Hayer, a discreet but recognized MEP
Born in 1986 in Mayenne, Valérie Hayer is the daughter of farmers and studied public law, specializing in finance with local authorities. She entered politics in 2008, at just 21 years old, with her election as municipal councilor of Saint-Denis-d’Anjou. First a member of the UDI, she left the party in 2017, showing her support for Emmanuel Macron. She was then nominated as a candidate for the senatorial elections of the same year for LREM in the second constituency of Mayenne but only ran for second place. She then turned to politics on a European scale. In 2019, she was elected member of the European Parliament on the Renaissance list of La République en Marche then in 2021, she was elected president of the Association for a European Renaissance before becoming a few months later co-president of the delegation Renaissance in the European Parliament.
Five years after the last elections, it moved from nineteenth position to first. Elected president of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament in January 2024, she was chosen by the majority party to be its head of list in the European elections and will therefore sit again for five more years.