A very short deadline. Only 21 days between the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, Sunday June 9, and the first round of the legislative elections, Sunday June 30, 2024. The candidacies must be filed before Sunday June 16 at 10 a.m.
Renaissance, RN, Popular Front, LR, the main parties unite, break up and organize to present their lists and their candidates. Getting organized, an even greater problem for the “small” parties, present during the last legislative elections in 2022. Illustration in Côte-d’Or: if Lutte Ouvrière (1.03% of the votes in 2022) will present candidates , this will not be the case for the Animalist Party (0.54% of the votes) or Ecology in the center (0.77% of the votes).
“It is very difficult to mobilize again at such short notice”
In Côte-d’Or, the animalist party will not present anyone for the legislative elections in June 2024. Unlike 2022, where two candidates were present. This was the case for François Benredjem, in the third constituency, finishing with 1.38% of the vote. “The hyper-constrained deadlines of course favor the most established parties, to the detriment of small parties”he regrets.
“For small parties, it is particularly difficultnotes François Benredjem. The European elections have just taken place. And financially, and in terms of financial resources, it is very difficult to mobilize again in such short time frames, to engage in a new election. It is difficult for small and new parties to finance campaigns, very often they are the responsibility of the candidates themselves. For small parties, it is rather unfavorable, which means that the democratic game is not fully respected.”
While the animalist party achieved a score of 2.32% during the European elections, former candidate François Benredjem regrets not being able to “surf” on the notoriety acquired during these elections: “The presence of a party like the animalist party in the European elections made it possible to make itself known. We draw a positive point from it, perhaps to prepare for a deadline like the municipal elections in 2026”.
PHOTOPQR/LE MIDI LIBRE/MAXPPP
“Holding elections in the summer doesn’t make sense…”
In the legislative elections in 2022, the “Ecology at the center” party presented a candidate in Côte-d’Or, Clélia Robert. She had totaled a little more than 3% of the votes in the 5th district. This party will not have a candidate this year. “The period is really not favorable, holding elections at the start of summer…, sighs Fabien Robert, municipal councilor of Dijon and representative of the “Ecology at the center” party in the department. It’s the worst time, everyone is in suspense, on break, we don’t have elections in the middle of summer, just before the start of the Olympics!”.
“If the period had fallen at another time, I would have seen things differently on the Côte-d’Or. The same election in September, yes! We manage to propel candidates everywhere. And then it ‘it’s true that fifteen days to present concrete things doesn’t make much sense…”, still regrets Fabien Robert. If “Ecology at the center” will not send candidates to Côte-d’Or, the party should nevertheless present more than sixty across the country.
A very short deadline which “favors professionals and outgoing workers”
This situation, “It is contempt for the French and the intermediary representatives who do not have time to turn around. It adds tension to an already fragile situation”notes for his part Bruno David, various right-wing candidate in 2022 in the second constituency of Côte-d’Or, credited with 3.52% in the first round.
For these legislative elections, his decision has been made: he will not run again. “The conditions for the debate are not met for it to be peaceful,” explains the municipal councilor of Dijon, who defines himself as LR but “non-Ciotti channel”, rather on the LR Federation line in Côte-d’Orwho called for his resignation.
This very short period “favors professionals and outgoing workers”analyzes Bruno David, “and this prevents the expression of a part of the opinion which would like to rally different voices”. “The French have the right to a debate of ideas. It should have been postponed” the election, notes the elected official.
Lutte Ouvrière will present a candidate in each constituency
Among the “small” ones, one political party is doing well: Workers’ struggle, which represented 1.03% of the votes in the legislative elections in 2022 in Côte-d’Or. Claire Rocher, spokesperson for the movement, affirms on France Bleu Bourgogne that LO will present five candidates – therefore ten people, a candidate and his deputy – one in each constituency of the department
“We are stubborn, we are stubborn! We have been showing up for a long time and we always find the means to do it and show up wherever we can”. Even if she does not want to give us the recipe for the precise organization, Claire Rocher, who will be a candidate in the second constituency, is satisfied: “We wanted to be present, and say that as long as we do not attack this capitalist system, we will not get out of it as workers. Even if we are asked for our opinion again, we might as well give it, we might as well share our concerns as workers.”
