Illustration of this struggle in the city of Lyon, where an outgoing MP was overtaken by his young rival from the New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES) in the first round of general elections.
Thomas Rudigoz (Candidate of the Renaissance Party, new name of La République en Marche) and his team immortalize their campaign day this Thursday morning. They prepare to distribute leaflets and solicit voters at a market in Lyon’s first Rhône district.
In the first round, the incumbent came second. In 2017, this former district mayor was carried by Emmanuel Macron’s wave of La République en Marche.
I was hoping to arrive with some personal added value perhaps in a handkerchief. There’s a gap a little bigger than I thought, four and a half percent
he confides.
” It is to be hoped that there will be a leap from our constituency, from the LR constituency [droite] and then of our fellow citizens who do not want Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s programme. »
Others, on the other hand, do not want to hear anything from the candidates from Emmanuel Macron’s camp.
Neighborhood native Fabien Namias says he will vote for NUPES because we really need it to bring things back into balance, at least in terms of purchasing power
.
In this Lyon constituency, in which many pensioners and highly qualified people live, but which also has a high proportion of social housing, the left-wing presidential candidates received around 40 percent of the votes in the first ballot. There Jean-Luc Mélenchon ended up in the lead.
The presidential camp is waving the red danger, the impending paralysis, should the deputies of the united left ever enter the National Assembly in force.
This position is also shared by Gérard Chavas, who came to Lyon to sell his ready meals. He predicts a chaos“,”text”:”chaos”}}”> chaos
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Aurélie Gries, the NUPES candidate from rebellious France, condemned this fear speech.
She makes contact by predicting the worst if her rival’s camp wins an absolute majority on Sunday: : casse sociale, déni démocratique et non-prise en compte de la crise climatique.”,”text”:”On imagine que ça va être un programme dans la continuité de ces cinq dernières années. Donc: casse sociale, déni démocratique et non-prise en compte de la crise climatique.”}}”>We imagine that it will be a program in the continuity of the last five years. So: social collapse, democratic denial and neglect of the climate crisis.
On this Thursday afternoon, Aurélie Gries advertises with her parents after school. She believes she can still count on a reservoir of votes on the left.
And she doesn’t believe there is an anti-Mélenchon front in the constituency.
” I have 37.75% of the votes. I’m leading against Macronie, La République en Marche. And there’s really an interest in voting because we can stand. »
Above all, it will be necessary for young people to vote. They largely avoided the ballot box in the first round of the general election. NUPES promises to improve their lot.
If Aurélie Gries and her team are targeting the sector at the end of the campaign, it is because the first legislative round in that district, which elected Jean-Luc Mélenchon as president, faced heavy abstention. It is often voters on the left, in Lyon and elsewhere in France, who abstain most often.
She adds.
The key to this second round of parliamentary voting: convincing the undecided and encouraging the abstentions to go to the polls this time.