Pierre Carassus, former deputy mayor of Seine-et-Marne: “I was re-elected to everyone’s surprise in 1997”

Pierre Carassusnow aged 81, was mayor de Vaux-le-Pénil from 1989 to 2012. “I always considered myself a left-wing republican », underlines the one who had joined the Citizens’ movement by Jean-Pierre Chevènement. And it was under the MDC label that he had summer elected to legislative elections partial in 1995 on the 3^e constituency, which at the time included Melun, Le Châtelet-en-Brie, Moret-sur-Loing and Montereau-Fault-Yonne.

When the National Assembly was dissolved in 1997, the deputy was a candidate for succession against Yves Jégo (RPR). “I was in difficulty, the first round was uncertain and they saw me beaten in the second round. Jean-Pierre Chevènement called me to support me and I decided to do a field campaign,” he remembers.

Elected thanks to “the plural left”

And against all expectations, Pierre Carassus will become the only left-wing MP from the southern half of Seine-et-Marne, winning by a narrow head with 50.52% of the votes in the second round. “I was re-elected to everyone’s surprise, thanks to the plural left,” he recalls.

Now retired from political life in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the former deputy still scrutinizes the public debate. “It was almost necessary to dissolve today, given the state of the country, but this decision is a little too hasty,” he believes. In 1997, we had more time to campaign in May-June. There, some will be on holiday and it will be necessary to make proxies. I am, like everyone, relatively worried. There is a dominant discourse that values ​​the extreme right, and I hope that the union of the left will work. We’ll see. The dissolution should have taken place long before. I believe that we do not play an election on a bluff. »

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