The graft didn’t take. Manuel Valls, candidate invested by La République en Marche (LRM) in the 5e constituency of French people living abroad (Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Monaco), was eliminated in the first round on Sunday June 5. The former socialist prime minister admitted defeat in a published message on Twitter : “If dissent and division have sown confusion, I cannot ignore my score and the fact that my candidacy did not convince. An election is a moment of truth. »
In his message, Manuel Valls calls, for the second round, to block the candidate of the New Popular, Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), Renaud Le Berre, who came first according to his training. Details of the election results were not yet available on the Interior Ministry website.
The investiture of Mr. Valls by LRM had provoked the media dispute of the outgoing deputy, Stéphane Vojetta, who considered himself the natural candidate of the presidential party. He had immediately announced that he would be a candidate for his succession, and denounced the “parachuting and upheavals of the old world”. “The French people in the constituency deserve to be represented by a person for whom proximity, loyalty and respect for the word given are of value”, he added in his press release.
The formula aimed without naming his competitor and his political versatility. In 2017, after his defeat in the primary of the left in view of the presidential election and the victory of Emmanuel Macron, Manuel Valls was re-elected deputy in the 1e constituency of Essonne, under the label of the presidential majority. He left his post in 2018 to run for mayor of Barcelona, but he failed – 13% of the vote – and had to settle for a position as a city councilor. Post which he also left to return to France in August 2021, as a columnist on RMC and BFMTV.
“Nice summary”
Stéphane Vojetta claims to have ” laid [ses] suitcases » in the riding some 20 years ago. However, he only really occupied the seat from October 2021: substitute for Samantha Cazebonne in the 2017 legislative elections, he had replaced her when she was elected to the Senate. At the beginning of May, with the Mondehe had expressed his conviction to be re-elected without worrying about his exclusion from La République en Marche: “Once elected, I have no doubt that I will be reinstated in LRM or in another party of the presidential majority. »
“I was nominated as a candidate by the presidential majority at the request of Emmanuel Macron”, insisted for his part Mr. Valls, adding: “I am calm, this candidacy is a good synthesis of my journey between France and Spain. I want to convince voters that it is a chance for them to have a former prime minister with a strong voice to defend them. »