In the week of April 18, Woippy found herself at the top of trends on Twitter. Tens of thousands of humorous tweets mocking the name of this city located north of Metz have been broadcast. The twittos had fun associating the paw patrol or Dora the Explorer… This surge in notoriety, as absurd as it is inexplicable, will have been ephemeral. However, a few days before, a much more spectacular event had occurred there. In the first round of the presidential election, on April 10, the town had placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon well ahead, with 34.86% of the vote.
In some offices in the city, the candidate of La France insoumise (LFI) even exceeded 50%. A first place snatched from the National Rally (RN): in this former bastion of the left, Marine Le Pen gained ground from ballot to ballot, to the point of coming out on top in the first round in 2017. While she is progressing almost everywhere elsewhere in the department, it lost 211 voters in this city of around 14,000 inhabitants between the first round of 2017 and that of 2022, falling from 29.18% to 25.91%. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has won more than 500.
In the so-called “priority” district of Boileau-Pré-Génie, the unemployment rate exceeds 37% and the poverty rate reaches 47.5%, according to INSEE. We voted Mélenchon there by more than 55%. Olivier (who did not wish to give his name), 58, is one of these voters. He calls himself an engineer, but has been looking for a job for a long time. On this Wednesday, April 27 in the morning, he is immersed in the France/World pages of Lorraine Republican, at an outdoor cafe. Unlike the other clients, he is not reluctant to talk about politics: “Mélenchon is a guy from the past, he has toughness, he knows what he’s talking about. I was really disappointed that he didn’t qualify in the second round. He could have done something for us. » In the second round, he voted for Macron. “Do not exaggerate, I could never elect a Le Pen”he blurts out.
“A real statesman”
Voters from Mélenchon to Woippy mostly made the same choice as him in the second round. Emmanuel Macron won 1,715 votes between the two rounds against 775 for Mme The pen. “Here, there is a majority of people with an immigrant background, recalls Tarik Lazrak, 35, manager of a hallal butcher. How do you expect them to vote Le Pen? It constantly caricatures Muslims, family reunification. So, obviously, even if people want that to change, they voted for Macron. To block, but without conviction. » All voters of the “rebellious” did not make this choice. Participation fell by more than three points between the two rounds in Woippy. And, among the voters, 6.52% chose the blank or null vote.
You have 51.49% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.