Will the “Mélenchon effect” happen again and have an influence on the legislative elections in the Lyon suburbs? “I am going to give my vote to someone, in the logic of the presidential election”, confides Rodrigue Barde, 36, leaving the polling station early in the morning in the canteen of the Louis-Pergaud school, in the Minguettes district, in Vénissieux. The bus driver does not hide his preference for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. His vote in the legislative elections is directly linked to the breakthrough of the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) in working-class neighborhoods.
In this 14e constituency of the Rhône, few voters met on the morning of Sunday June 12 retained the names of the eleven candidates for the seat of deputy. The choices are often guided by the main currents of the presidential election. Like that of Isabelle Sébastien, 77, who has never missed an election in forty-seven years of civic life. “When we see what is happening in countries where free elections do not exist, we do not have the right not to vote”, says the former school kitchen employee, originally from Martinique.
Further on, in the office of the Léo-Lagrange school, Djamila Abderrahmane, 48, has also made her choice. “in the aftermath of the presidential election”. But her neighbors decided not to come and vote this time, unlike the first round which placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the top of the presidential ballot, with the spectacular score of 48.79% of the votes, in Vénissieux, against 17.97% to Emmanuel Macron. At noon, the participation rate in the legislative elections was limited to 11.80% in Vénissieux, as in Vaulx-en-Velin, where the rate fell by one point compared to 2017 at the same time (12.97%). Participation is more strongly in decline in the districts farthest from the city centers. In Lyon, the participation rate rose to 20.89%. If the trend is confirmed at the end of the day, the decline in the vote in working-class neighborhoods could compromise the “Mélenchon effect”.
The spectacular scores of LFI in the presidential election
On April 10, 2022, the candidacy of the leader of LFI undoubtedly mobilized the electorate in the outlying districts of the second metropolis of France. Systematically improving his 2017 score, Mr. Mélenchon came out on top in the first round of the presidential ballot in most major cities east of the capital of Gaul, well ahead of Emmanuel Macron. With spectacular scores in Vaulx-en-Velin (54.94% against 17.28% for Mr. Macron), Givors (44.89% against 20.13% for Marine Le Pen, and 16.23% for Mr. macron). More reduced, the advance of Jean-Luc Mélenchon was nevertheless affirmed in Saint-Priest, Rillieux-la-Pape or Bron, cities led by mayors Les Républicains (LR).
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