In the courtroom of the administrative court of Lille, Thursday morning, everyone agrees on at least one thing: the official candidate of the New Popular Front in the first constituency of the North is called Aurélien Le Coq. The young man was chosen by La France Insoumise to replace Adrien Quatennens at short notice.
But what bothers LFI is the affixing of a “New Popular Front” (NFP) logo on the electoral campaign material (posters, leaflets, ballot papers) of Amy Bah (various left). The Lille president of the feminist association “All of Us” has maintained her candidacy and on her posters, she announces that she supports the NFP program. Too ostensibly? It is this question which was decided before the court, within the framework of a summary judgment.
Before the administrative court, Me Jérôme Leron requested the suspension of the distribution of professions of faith and printed ballot papers for Amy Bah on the grounds that the words “ in support of the New Popular Front » and used a graphic charter very close to that of the New Popular Front, even though he is the sole candidate of this electoral alliance.
LFI rebutted by the summary judge
« Aurélien Le Coq does not have the notoriety of the person he replaces (Adrien Quatennens). Not all voters know who the candidate who won the nomination really is », underlines Me Jérôme Leron who denounces “ maneuvers ” Or “everything is done to suggest that Madame Bah is invested by the New Popular Front, to recover votes ».
The judge did not follow this reasoning and rejected the request. The magistrate notes “ that the media, local and national, had informed the public with particular intensity about the fact that Mr. Adrien Quatennens, outgoing LFI deputy for the constituency, had initially been nominated by this movement as the sole candidate of the New Popular Front before to renounce his investiture, that Mr. le Coq had been designated as the new sole candidate of the New Popular Front by LFI in place of Mr. Quatennens and that the candidacy of Mrs. Bah had been prompted by the investiture of Mr. Quatennens ».
To conclude that there was no serious and manifestly illegal attack on the sincerity of the vote, the magistrate also noted: that, if Ms. Bah declared support for the program of the New Popular Front, she did not publicly claim an investiture and that none of the parties making up this alliance gave her their support “. Unlike Aurélien Le Coq, “ the only one of these two candidates to include on his ballot and his profession of faith the logos of the four parties which concluded the electoral agreement of the New Popular Front ».
Me Eve Thieffry, Amy Bah’s lawyer welcomed a “ very good decision “. Aurélien Le Coq has 48 hours to appeal.
