What do the 2nd constituency of Allier and the 3rd constituency of Ardèche have in common? They are among the 11 constituencies where the RN came out on top and where the “Republican barrier” did not work during these legislative elections. In these constituencies, there is therefore at least one candidate from the National Rally (RN) and one candidate from the New Popular Front (NFP), in most cases opposed to a candidate from the presidential camp or the Republicans (LR).
After the 224 withdrawals of qualified candidates, the physiognomy of the second round of the legislative elections, organized this Sunday, July 7, has completely changed. We are witnessing a massive decrease in the number of triangular contests, from 306 to 89, according to official data from the Ministry of the Interior published Wednesday. We are consequently witnessing a jump in duels, from 190 to 409.
In the constituencies where the RN and its allies came out on top, the candidates in third place almost all withdrew. With the exception of the 11 constituencies where this “republican front” did not work. In the 1st constituency of Val-d’Oise, by gathering 33.65% of the votes, the RN candidate Anne Sicard came out on top in the poll, ahead of the NFP candidate Maximilien Jules-Arthur (30.8%) and Emilie Chandler, outgoing deputy of the presidential camp (25.46%).
“Mayors, associations, residents have asked me to maintain my candidacy in refusing the extremes,” explains Emilie Chandler on her Facebook page to justify her decision to remain, despite the instructions from her camp, before calling for “building the republican bulwark against the RN and LFI.”
“The left candidate has already lost”
The situation is somewhat similar in the 14th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône. The outgoing Renaissance MP, Anne-Laurence Petel, is staying in the second round despite coming in third place, with 28.91%, behind the LR-RN candidate Gérault Verny (31.65%) and the socialist Jean-David Ciot (29.48%). “The left-wing candidate has already lost,” Anne-Laurence Petel, elected since 2017, assured AFP to justify her refusal to withdraw.
In Nice, in the 1st constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, the presidential candidate Graig Monetti (22.8%) is holding on despite his third place, against the left-wing candidate, who came second with 26.6%, and at the risk of favouring the re-election of Eric Ciotti, the highly contested president of the Republicans allied with the RN, who came out on top with 41% of the vote. “I am the most capable of uniting people, I have decided to maintain my candidacy”, posted on X (ex-Twitter) Graig Monetti, supported by the mayor (Horizons) of Nice Christian Estrosi. “Faced with the betrayal and the shame done to Nice and the people of Nice, beating Eric Ciotti and the RN is within reach”, wants to believe Graig Monetti.
Minot “the only one who can block the RN”
Several right-wing candidates have also refused to withdraw, such as the outgoing Republican MP Emmanuelle Anthoine. She came third in the 4th constituency of Drôme with 23.98%, and believes she is “the only one who can ensure that the RN is not elected”. Emmanuelle Anthoine, whose deputy is the mayor of Crépol, a village that found itself at the heart of the news after the death last November of young Thomas who was stabbed to death at a dance, is calling on the NFP-PS candidate Isabelle Pagani, second with 26.27% of the vote and less than 1,600 votes ahead of her, to withdraw. In this constituency, the RN came in far ahead (38.37%).
In the 7th constituency of Oise, Maxime Minot, who came third in the first round of the legislative elections, chose to stay in the race. Presenting himself as “the only one who can block the RN”, the outgoing MP (Les Républicains) nevertheless obtained 21.52% in the first round, far behind the RN candidate David Magnier (40.43%) and the NFP candidate Loïc Pen, second with 27.18%.
Several other constituencies have confirmed the failure of the “republican front”: the 1st of Creuse, the 6th of Hérault, the 8th of Rhône and the 5th of Saône-et-Loire. These last three constituencies, however, present different faces. In the 6th of Hérault, Julien Gabarron, the RN candidate, faces in the second round the outgoing deputy Emmanuelle Ménard (various right), who recently distanced herself from the RN, and Magali Crozier, from La France insoumise.
In the 8th arrondissement of Rhône, the presidential candidate, the MoDem Dominique Despras, who came in third place behind the RN and the NFP, registered his candidacy with the prefecture but he then withdrew and the ballot papers in his name will not be printed. The outgoing LR MP Nathalie Serre, who came in fourth place, is holding on. Finally, in the 5th arrondissement of Saône-et-Loire, Louis Margueritte, the presidential candidate who came in third place behind the RN and the NFP, withdrew, unlike the various right-wing mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône, Gilles Platret. In these territories, once again, the RN can have serious hopes of victory on Sunday evening.