Par
Gael Arcuset
Published on
June 27, 2024 at 5:42 p.m.
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“There are times when you have to know what you want and what you don’t want. » A few days before the first round of the 2024 legislative elections, this mayor of a village took up his pen in an open letteraddressed to all the inhabitants of his commune.
This mail, distributed in approximately 550 mailboxes, he had it printed on his personal funds. Without committing a single cent to the municipality.
“I have been your mayor for far too long to be able to remain silent”
Saint-Pierre-de-Mons, in Gironde, 1,250 inhabitants. In the European elections, the far right (National Rally and Reconquest) reached 39% in the village ; Jordan Bardella coming in first.
Unimaginable for Patrick Labayle, mayor since 1986. “If someone had told me that, about ten years ago, I would have replied that it was not possible, not possible,” whispers the person concerned, a socialist sympathizer. not inserted.
In reaction, therefore, the local elected official, with the support of his deputies, took the decision to write an open letter. “I have been your mayor too long to be able to remain silent,” he wrote in the preamble. The situation is serious ! »
I am deeply disgusted by the populist speeches, hatred, racism and discord carried by the far right. They take advantage of the difficulties of the moment to prosper
Through this open letter, on a double-sided page, the mayor of Saint-Pierre-de-Mons does not call for voting for this or that candidate. But to vote against the National Rally.
“The real danger is the extreme right”
A position thathe assumes 200%. “How can you imagine letting France be led by a 28-year-old with no experience, who has never worked? […] The real danger, he insists, is the RN. The real danger is the far right […] The National Rally and Reconquest will never have my vote. »
Rise of the RN: “Let everyone clean up their own doorstep”
Mayor of Saint-Pierre-de-Mons since 1986, Patrick Labayle is one of those who saw the National Front and then the National Rally grow in power. “In 2002,” he remembers, “in the second round of the presidential election, of course I voted for Chirac. This time, I know that many will hesitate and that will play into the hands of the RN. »
For the local elected official, close to the Socialist Party without ever having joined it, the rise of the RN is due to several factors.
And politicians are certainly not exempt from all reproaches: “By dint of creating currents in all parties, on the left as well as on the right, this has caused divisions. And people no longer recognize themselves in it. Everyone should clean up in front of their door! »
To explain his position, Patrick Labayle looks back on his young years and the situation in the village during the post-war period: “I was born in Saint-Pierre-de-Mons. I grew up and live in our town: I have seen it evolve, develop and prosper. I also experienced, like some of you, the difficulties of life after the Second World War. France was under reconstruction. The wounds were raw and the needs immense. I can’t forget my father’s storieswho spent five years in captivity in Germany as part of the STO [service de travail obligatoire, ndlr] ; nor Otto, a young 17-year-old German who was assigned to us, in Saint-Pierre-de-Mons, for three years in compensation for war damages. These events marked the child I was and the adult I became. »
A feeling of incomprehension
Today, the Gironde elected official says he “no longer recognizes, no longer understands” his fellow citizens: “What happened so that 4 out of 10 voters in Saint-Pey [diminutif de Saint-Pierre-de-Mons, ndlr] vote in favor of the far right the day after the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Landings? »
“Perhaps, perhaps even doubtless, that voters wanted to sanction the government and the president”, estimates Patrick Labayle, who openly criticizes Emmanuel Macron’s choice to dissolve the National Assembly. “When you are President of the Republic, how can you do what he did? », he asks.
In his letter, Patrick Labayle don’t delude yourself. He does not fail to confide these “frustrations”: “difficulties in making ends meet, finding accommodation, getting medical care, our school […] lacking means and consideration […]of all our farmers, traders, artisans and local businesses…”
These frustrations, of course, exist and we all feel them. But it is certainly not the National Rally which will provide solutions to all this!
Could this open letter change the situation? Patrick Labayle doesn’t believe it. The fact remains that, since it was made public, the telephone number of the mayor of Saint-Pierre-de-Mons keeps ringing.
“I expected some people to come out of the woodwork to take me down,” he admits. But quite the opposite is happening. Many fellow mayors told me: ‘It’s great what you did!’ I answer them: ‘So, do the same guys!’ We’ll see what happens on June 30. »
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