The final list of candidates for 1er round of the early legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 has closed since Sunday evening. In Corsica, 32 candidates declared themselves in the four constituencies of the island, eleven fewer than in 2022. Unlike the previous election, it is the department of Haute-Corse which wins the prize in the number of applications with 19 candidates, one less than in 2022. The 1time constituency is, as usual, in the lead with eleven candidates, and seven in the second, each time one candidate less than in 2022. Southern Corsica is much less profitable with only 14 candidates, or 9 of less than in 2022. Only 8 candidates in 1time constituency against 12 previously, and 6 candidates in the second against 11 previously. The shock of the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly and the brevity of the electoral campaign, barely 20 days, admittedly took everyone by surprise. In addition to the 4 outgoing deputies who are all seeking a third term, we unsurprisingly find candidates from the previous election under similar or unified labels. Few newcomers, but all from recent parties or parties which had not presented themselves in 2022. And one notable absentee.
Nationalist discord
Two years after their re-election, the three outgoing nationalist deputies therefore return to the battle to defend their mandate, but also the Beauvau process in suspense and in danger since the dissolution. The deputies of Femu a Corsica, Michel Castellani and Jean-Félix Acquaviva, respectively in the 1time and the 2th constituency of Haute-Corse, and the PNC deputy, Paul-André Colombani, in the 2th Corse-du-Sud constituency. If the configuration has nevertheless changed in two years, the electoral union, despite repeated calls for reason in the name of the issue of autonomy, remains a dead letter. Political intelligence, which had been able to overcome the still-living fractures and made it possible to reap successive victories since December 2015, has sunk into resentment, jealousy and hatred. The Nationalists persist in their internal divisions and their fratricidal war. The three outgoing deputies each face a declared independence challenger and opposition that is more muted, but just as harmful. If Corsica Libera, now Nazione, finally decided not to present any candidate, Core in Fronte, absent during the previous election and powerless to build the union, took over the four constituencies. The two deputies from Femu a Corsica will therefore face Batti Lucciardi in the 1time constituency of Haute-Corse and Antoine Carli in the second. Lionel Mortini’s decision not to run again in the Corte-Balagne constituency is good news for Jean-Félix Acquaviva. Paul-André Colombani no longer benefits, as in 2022, from the implicit agreement of the nationalist family not to present candidates against the incumbents. Agreement which did not prevail for his two other running mates from the Pè a Corsica union. He will therefore have to reckon with Jean-Baptiste Cucchi. Truel intra-nationalist even more pernicious in the 1time Corsica-du-Sud constituency between three challengers: Romain Colonna, territorial advisor of Femu a Corsica, already a candidate in 2022, the president of the BTP Federation Jean-François Luciani for the PNC, and Emmanuelle Dominici for Core in Fronte. This is the only constituency where the two autonomist parties, long allies and now irreconcilable, face each other directly. The PNC does not hide that its main opponent is the Femu candidate. Corsica Libera having not officially given voting instructions, we do not know which of the nine nationalist candidates the independence party will vote for or not.
No presidential majority
The outgoing deputy and president of the Horizons group in the National Assembly, Laurent Marcangeli, will be a good candidate for his succession in the 1time constituency of Corse-du-Sud, but no longer, as in 2022, under the now deadly banner of the presidential majority. Like the two other candidates who claimed it two years ago. In the 2th Corse-du-Sud constituency, LR Valérie Bozzi also abandoned it in favor of the more neutral label of Divers Droite. In the 1time constituency of Haute-Corse, the vice-president of the Corsican Federation of the Radical Party, Jean-François Paoli, returns to his original label. Macronia never flowered on the island, its failure in Europeans just echoed its failure to take root there. Still as shunned and in the midst of an existential crisis, the Republicans are not presenting, as in the previous legislative election, any candidate. The president of the LR Federation of Haute-Corse, François-Xavier Ceccoli, who, after the rout of the LR in the presidential elections, had prudently chosen to run without a label in the 2th constituency of Haute-Corse, also opts, like its sister in the South, for the acronym “Divers Droite”. No LR candidate in 1time constituency of Haute-Corse. Sylvain Fanti was turned away with the stated aim of not hindering Julien Morganti’s candidacy. The latter, a former Macronist who did not obtain the support of the presidential majority in 2022, says he is running “without a label”, but the prefectural list qualifies him as “Miscellaneous Right”. The young wolf of the left-wing opposition in Bastia, who in 2022 had crossed the bar of 1er turn, hopes to rally widely under the “Republican Arc”, dear to Emmanuel Macron, while taking advantage of the support of François-Xavier Ceccoli. The rest of the Bastia opposition, embodied by the PRG Jean Zuccarelli and the liberal Jean-Martin Mondoloni, supports, logically, as in 2022, Jean-François Paoli.
Hope RN
Still as in 2022, the National Rally (RN) intends to ride the Jordan Bardella wave which totaled more than 40% of the island votes in the European elections. He therefore once again occupies the ground in the four constituencies of the island. In Southern Corsica, of the two local leaders of the party, only François Filoni is representing himself in the 2nde constituency. Nathaly Antona, who has just been elected European deputy, the only Corsican deputy in Brussels, is replaced by her 2022 deputy: Ariane Quarena. Change of lead in Haute-Corse with two newcomers: Jean-Michel Marchal in 1time and Sylvie Jouart-Fernandez in the 2nde. In the Bastia constituency, the former candidate, Alexis Fernandez, breaking his ban with the RN, is running under the “Sovereignist” banner. We will also have to reckon with Jean-Michel Lamberti from Eric Zemmour’s “Reconquest! », already present in 2022, and with Nicolas Battini and his new party Mossa Palatina, ideologically close to Eric Zemmour. Mossa Palatina is also in the running in the two constituencies of Southern Corsica: Lisandru Luciani in 1time and Michel Chiocca in the 2nde. But not in 2th constituency of Haute-Corse where the RN faces another sovereignist candidate: Marie-Louise Mariani for the Suvranu Movement. Jean-Antoine Giacomi, who had announced his candidacy with his Forza Nova party, finally withdrew, explaining that the conditions for uniting the right, in particular the RN and Reconquête, were not met, and that he did not did not want to further disperse the chances of victory. In total, the Far Right brings together ten candidates on the island.
A more united left
Unlike 2022 where it left in dispersed order, rejecting the national agreement of the NUPES, the island left created a surprise by displaying an apparently united front under the aegis of the Popular Front. But the poster was not endorsed by the Parisian authorities of the new electoral platform which excluded Corsica from the national union. Nor does she manage to avoid local hiccups. However, the new Popular Front, which brings together the four left-wing parties – the PS, the PCF, EELV and LFI – presents a common candidate in the four constituencies. In the 1time constituency of Corse-du-Sud, the communist Marc-Antoine Leroy, who had stood alone during the previous election, is wearing his colors. In the 2nde constituency, the mayor of Pietrosella, the socialist Jean-Baptiste Luccioni is launching under this banner for his first candidacy for a legislative election. In the 1time constituency of Haute-Corse, the communist Michel Stefani, who had submitted his candidacy to the prefecture, finally withdrew it in favor of the Insoumise Sacha Bastelica. We do not know what the first secretary of the Socialist Federation of Haute-Corse, Emmanuelle de Gentili, first deputy at the town hall of Bastia, will do. In the 2nde northern constituency, the ecologist Hélène Sanchez also intends to unite left-wing voters. As usual, Lutte Ouvrière is participating in the ballot, but this time, with candidates in only three constituencies: Didier Quilichini in 1time constituency of Corse-du-Sud where he was substitute in 2022, Olivier Josue returns to 1time constituency of Haute-Corse and Viviane Rongione in the second. For this early ballot, only one candidate without a label: Gaël Maquet in 1time constituency of Haute-Corse, already in the race in 2022.
N.M.
