We believed them, at 8 p.m., in front of the presidential majority for this first round of the legislative elections. The candidates of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) finally find themselves 21,000 votes behind, neck and neck with Together. United behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon – who succeeded in nationalizing the race for the National Assembly, the Nupes also achieved a small feat: sending, in the first round, four deputies to the Palais-Bourbon.
The Nupes gathered, for the first round of the legislative elections, 5,836,000 votes, according to the final results. In the 6th, 16th and 17th constituencies of Paris, Sophia Chikirou (53.74%), Sarah Legrand (56.51%) and Danièle Obono (57.07%) manage to be elected in the first round. Alexis Corbière (62.94%) manages to keep his seat, from the first round, in the 7th district of Seine-Saint-Denis. A real success for him who, in 2017, had obtained only 21.6% of the votes to win the second round with 57.9%.
The map of the Nupes vote more or less takes up that of La France insoumise during the first round of the presidential election. But to this must be added the strength of the ecologists of Yannick Jadot, the communists of Fabien Roussel and the socialists of Anne Hidalgo. Proof that unity is strength – to the chagrin of left-wing voters who had called for unity in the presidential election: in 478 constituencies, the score of candidate Nupes is better than that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election.
In Aisne, Mayenne and Puy-de-Dôme, outgoing deputies Jean-Louis Bricout (PS), Guillaume Garot (PS) and André Chassaigne (PCF) thus score 30 points better than the score of the leader of the France rebellious during the presidential election, undeniably benefiting from a bonus for leaving. Among the “celebrities” of the Nupes, François Ruffin in the Somme, Delphine Batho in the Deux-Sèvres, the former presidential candidate for the Communists Fabien Roussel in the North and the leader of the Greens Julien Bayou in Paris also do better than Jean-Luc Mélenchon alone.
The failure of the socialist dissidents
The Nupes alliance had been denounced on the left. The “elephants” of the Socialist Party, headwind against the agreement signed by their First Secretary Olivier Faure, had therefore left in support of dissident candidates everywhere in France. But it is a failure: of the 383 left dissidents listed, only 10 will be present in the second round. A blatant example as François Hollande had mobilized for her: in Corrèze, Annick Taysse, who had had the visit of the former President of the Republic twice, obtained less than 10% of the votes, well ahead of the candidate of Nupes (25.4%).
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The presence of dissidents will give strange matches for the second round. The dissident outgoing PS deputy David Habib, in the 3rd constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, who came first (36.61%) will thus face the Nupes candidate Jean-François Baby (20.63%). Reverse poster in the 2nd constituency of Ariège: the outgoing deputy LFI, labeled Nupes, came first (29.05%) ahead of the dissident socialist Laurent Panifous (21.79%) whom he will face on Sunday. In the 20th arrondissement of Paris, despite the socialist dissident Lamia El Aaraje (who had the support of Bernard Cazeneuve and Lionel Jospin), the LFI and Nupes candidate Danielle Simonet obtained 47.31% of the vote. They will face each other for the second round. In the first constituency of Gers: the dissident David Taupiac (24.15%) eliminates the candidate of Nupes (17.52%) and will face the presidential majority.
Revenge of Mélenchon
The Nupes must still transform the test if it wishes to have the majority in the National Assembly in order to “elect” Jean-Luc Mélenchon as Prime Minister. According to the results of the Ministry of the Interior, Nupes is present in the second round in 380 constituencies, including 188 in the lead. But one thing is clear: the leader of rebellious France has his revenge for the presidential election. The National Rally, which came second in the first round in April, won 18.7% of the vote. 7 points behind Nupes.