In 2020, the village of Reichshoffen, in the Bas-Rhin, had been placed, despite itself, in the spotlight, following the decision of the Alstom group to separate from its regional train assembly site. A factory employing 740 employees, “considered the most adaptable of the group, with a high level of hard work and availability. The workers then had the feeling of not being considered by headquarters at their fair value”, recalls Hubert Walter, the mayor (various right) of the town of 5,400 inhabitants. In the end, the story ended well, with the forthcoming takeover of the factory by the Spanish group CAF, a major player in the regional train market. But the episode will have marked the spirits. Should there be a link? On April 24, 54.44% of Reichshoffen voters placed Marine Le Pen in the lead in the second round of the presidential election.
For Frédéric Reiss, deputy (Les Républicains) of the constituency, it is above all a sign that, in the region, the workers’ vote has become a Le Pen vote. The phenomenon is not new. The National Front, now National Rally (RN), has long been rooted in this territory of northern Alsace. With less than 8% of inhabitants living below the poverty line, the employment area of Reichshoffen is not yet one of the poorest sectors. The unemployment rate (4.8%) is well below the departmental average. The activity there is dynamic, the difficulties of recruitment becoming more significant. But the level of equipment in this territory, which is both rural and industrial, is lower than the national average. “Inflationary and other crises handicap rural people much more than city dwellers, confirms Hubert Walter. People today are struggling to make ends meet, they feel like second-class citizens. We ourselves, rural elected representatives, have to fight to be listened to at certain levels. »
Le Pen considered less extreme
In Reichshoffen, the RN has thus entered into mores. The scores recorded by the far right only move a few rare voters on the left. This is the case of Julie, a midwife at the Strasbourg-Hautepierre hospital: “My sad observation today is that there is no longer any left. All that we are offered against Macron are the extremes. In the first round, I may have given my vote to the PS for the last time! » “RN voters are not racists as beforerelativizes, meanwhile, Okan Cakir, 31, manager of the village döner kebab. I even know Turks who voted for the RN, because they are not happy with Macron. I can’t fault him myself, he helped restaurant owners a lot during the Covid. But politics is never discussed here. » At the table, a thirty-year-old confirms: “I am of Turkish origin and I voted for Le Pen, for there to be change. »
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