“Bayrou in Melun? The situation is serious…”, quips Arnaud Saint-Martin (LFI), candidate of the New Popular Front in the 1st constituency. Wednesday morning, near the Melun market, a major place for distributing leaflets from all sides, the rebel met, and even shook hands with, the founder and president of MoDem. François Bayrou traveled to support the candidate and outgoing deputy Aude Luquet, in the National Assembly since 2017.
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Is there danger as the rebel suggests? “François comes out of friendship,” assures the elected member of the Democratic Movement since its creation in 2007. In fact, this is the third time that Bayrou has visited the Melun market with her before the legislative elections. But now, the time has come for battle as the presidential majority (until 2022) is in the hot seat after the surprise dissolution of the National Assembly.
In 2022, the MP won her election with 53.06% of the votes, ahead of Arnaud Saint-Martin by 1,728 votes. But he was ahead of her by 135 votes in the first round. The RN obtained 19% of the votes cast… How will the national dynamic in favor of the RN and the NFP turn out in this constituency of 23 communes where the left-wing candidate was in the lead in Melun and Dammarie-les-Lys in 2022?
“The question is to know what society and what values we want”
On the Melun market, the welcome given to François Bayrou is rather cheerful, never hostile. “It’s nice to see you here Mr. Bayrou! Do something ! We need you ! », a lady smiled at him. Only another refuses to shake his hand, “not even in a dream!” » Then he meets at the Abreuvoir restaurant several mayors of the district who have signed a platform in favor of Aude Luquet. Faced with the hypothesis of a duel between RN and NFP in the second round, this text which lists the “scams” of LFI and the RN leading to the “explosion of debt, (the) bankruptcy of France…” has was signed by fourteen mayors out of the 23 in his constituency, as well as by 80 municipal elected officials.
The lines are moving. Signed by the mayor of Melun, Kadir Mebarek (Horizons) while Aude Luquet and her group have been in the municipal opposition since last September. But also Gilles Battail, mayor of Dammarie, who has “withdrew” from the Republicans, of which he is a member, and is contesting the candidate Théo Michel, LR-Ciotti supported by the RN… Other supporters, Franck Vernin (UDI), president of the Melun Val de Seine agglomeration community, the LR elected representatives in Melun Catherine Asdrubal and Ségolène Durand, LR delegate of the 1st constituency, etc. “We must vote useful from the first round in the face of the extremes,” warns the latter. This transpartisan text hopes to create around Aude Luquet the bases of an expanded majority, on the scale of her constituency.
“It goes beyond me. The question is to know what society and what values we want. With the extremes, it is the fracturing of society. Today we must learn to live together, find a republican arc and a majority that allows it,” she assures, touched by this mobilization at this “crucial” moment.
“People say to themselves: there is something more extreme than the RN »
Around the table, facing the boss of the MoDem, the elected officials let go. The mayor of Cély-en-Bière confides that “it’s the first time in his life” that he has put my name on a political platform. “The problem in France is that we are always against…”, notes another. “We have the choice between the worst and the worst. We should not be condemned to be systematically hostile towards each other. We have to face our responsibilities. When fire threatens, we all have to get involved. A watchword: mobilization! », says François Bayrou.
Kadir Mebarek is alarmed: “The warning we are expressing does not resonate with people. They are in the very concrete, the everyday. And as Zemmour created a more extremist party, people say to themselves: there is something more extreme than the RN… » Bayrou “feels responsible for the climate of appeasement that should exist in France. This is the climate that I want to defend.”
Aude Luquet stays the course. “I’m going back because I believe in it. Like in 2022 when I felt that I was effective and useful.” Among the texts she carried are the amendments to the law of August 3, 2018, which increase the sanctions against the perpetrators of rodeos. Others are in progress such as the bill tabled to toughen the penalties in the event of refusal to comply, another to exempt alimony from single-parent families from tax (voted by the National Assembly in October 2022, but still not presented to the Senate), etc.
“I want to continue to help municipalities by supporting mayors’ requests for subsidies from state services. Being elected is also a commitment to everyday proximity.” Every week she receives people for problems with employment, housing, water bills, fiber, etc. “It’s not enough to have a label. I am not a baby Macron, I got involved in politics in 1995. I live in this territory and I act for the inhabitants.”
