Towards a «Republican Front»
Marine Tondelier, secretary of the Greens, alternate candidate in the constituency dominated by Marine Le Pen, has evoked a new Republican Front. It won’t be easy, among a Macronian Ensemble that doesn’t love LFi and is reciprocated. It’s not impossible, though. In the street demonstration that was immediately called in the evening in Place de la République by the Nfr, the theme was evoked; and if the demonstrators were united by a common goal – “We are all anti-fascists” was the most frequent slogan, strictly in Italian – there was no lack of initial divisions: Faure was contested, but also Mélenchon – who, together with Manuel Bompard, elected in the first round, dominated the evening – was harshly criticized for his authoritarian management of the party: “Social traitor”, he was called. “Either them or us, there is nothing in between”, said Mélenchon.
French in the square
Street demonstrations were also held in Nantes, where the crowd was dispersed by the police, and in Lyon, where barricades were erected and an attack on the town hall was attempted. The police are on alert in all cities and in the capital itself, the use of drones for surveillance has been authorized, on an extraordinary basis.
Ciotti first, in difficulty
Among the well-known right-wing candidates, Eric Ciotti, the president of the Républicains who was the protagonist of a bitter split caused by his sudden decision to ally himself with the RN, came first in the Alpes Maritimes, with 41%, but two other candidates were admitted to the second round, one from the NFP and one from Ensemble. The same fate for Marie-Caroline Le Pen, Marine’s sister, in the Sarthe.
Darmanin and Sejourné in forehead.
Gérald Darmanin, Minister of the Interior, also came first (with 36%) in the North in a constituency with three people admitted to the second round (RN and NFP). Stéphane Séjourné also came first in Hauts-de-Seine with 46.1%; he will face an NFP candidate in the second round. Elisabeth Borne, former prime minister, came second in Calvados with 28.9%, behind an RN candidate and ahead of an NFP candidate, all admitted to the second round. The socialist Faure has already raised the possibility of “saving her”.
Roussel (Pcf) not elected
On the left, Fabien Roussel, secretary of the Communist Party, was not elected in the North, despite having collected 31% of the votes: in the constituency the RN candidate, Guillaume Fourquin, passed the first round with 50.30% of the votes. François Ruffin, Mélenchon’s great opponent in Lfi, came second in the Somme with 33.9% behind a candidate from RN and ahead of a candidate from Ensemble, third admitted to the ballot.
