from our correspondent
PARIS – Two out of three Frenchmen did not go to vote in the first round of the regional elections held yesterday. A new record of abstentions has been broken, such low percentages had only been seen for certain referendums. This element can serve as a consolation for both Emmanuel Macron’s party, La Rpublique En Marche, which everyone thought would go badly but not that bad – stopped at 10% nationwide, humiliated in the Hauts-de-France Region – both for the training of Marine Le Pen, the National Rassemblement, which did much less well than expected and therefore the regional presidency that has been trying for some time to give itself a more institutional tone may be missing.
Currently the only satisfied are the men of the Gaullist right, the Rpublicains, or those who left Sarkozy’s party remaining in that political area such as Xavier Bertrand, the president of the Northern Region of Hauts-de-France who will in all likelihood be reconfirmed. Bertrand the protagonist of the political masterpiece of the day, and it is no coincidence that he was among the first to speak, with solemn and martial tones, already as a candidate for the next presidential elections (spring 2022): Five years ago, on the evening of the first round, we were second, 16 points behind the Front National (now called Rassemblement national, ed). This time the women and men of the Hauts-de-France region have clearly placed us in the lead. My deep gratitude goes to them. We broke our jaws at the national Rassemblement.
According to initial estimates, Bertrand gets 44% of the votes, largely ahead of the lepenist candidate Sbastien Chenu, standing at 24.4%, which instead the polls gave much higher. In third position the ecologist candidate supported by the left Karima Delli with 18%. The list of Laurent Pietraszewski supported by Lrem, Macron’s party, does not exceed the 10% threshold and therefore does not qualify for the second round. another source of satisfaction for Bertrand, and of humiliation for the presidential majority: in order to weaken Bertrand and reduce his ambitions for the Elysée, in the electoral campaign big shots such as the Minister of the Interior, Grald Darmanin, or of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, were spent on Pietraszewski. They put themselves on the list, but they were rejected without appeal.
Come Macron, the other favorite for the 2022 presidential elections, Marine Le Pen, also got a bad result. But if Macron had expected it, for Marine Le Pen a surprise. The polls gave his men the lead in at least five regions, but only Paca (Provence-Alpes-Cte d’Azur) remains within his reach, where Sarkozy’s former minister, Thierry Mariani, supported by the Rassemblement national, has not yet completely out of the question against Renaud Muselier, a candidate of the right supported by the macronists. Mariani for no longer favorite e the scenario of the previous regional ones could be repeated, when Marine Le Pen did not even obtain a presidency. In the first round, the former parties win: the right (29%) and the socialist left (18%), while the Rn drops to 19% and Lrem to 10%. Sunday the second round.
June 20, 2021 (change June 20, 2021 | 22:28)
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