Is the RN at the gates of the Assembly, in Haute-Vienne? While the far right has monopolized the European elections, the campaign is turning into a confrontation between the left and the central bloc.
“This is the National Assembly.” The Limoges Community Council is usually a place of polite exchanges. But this Thursday evening, it had the air of the Palais Bourbon. How serious the situation must be for exhortations to “sweep in front of one’s own door” to fly between Guillaume Guérin, instigator of the Republican Alternative, and the elected socialists, supporters of the New Popular Front.
An explosive “neither-nor”
Mayor of Vayrac and deputy of Manon Meunier, “a dangerous extremist”, he quips, Jean-Yves Rigout opened the ball, to express “his amazement” on a letter sent by Guillaume Guérin, in certain sectors of Limoges metropolis . “Were the Alternative candidates mandated to support Government policy or to strengthen the RN? », he questions. “What do Ms. Négrier, Ms. Tayot and Mr. Toulza think of the legal retirement age, the increase in wages, the freezing of prices for basic necessities, or the strengthening of essential public services (school, health, transport, etc.),” he lists, in a message validated by the NFP.
In this letter, Guillaume Guérin devotes the longest paragraph to referring LFI to its support for “notorious anti-Semites like Rima Hassan”, “some homophobes” and even “S files”. “This New Popular Front, which would shame Léon Blum, bears its name very badly,” he adds. Guillaume Guérin signs this message in his mandate as president of the urban community. “What the president expresses, as president, should represent the entire assembly,” emphasizes Géneviève Leblanc. The elected official from Limoges recounts the accusations of being a “useful idiot for Hamas” and “of apologizing for terrorism” to which she is the subject. “When here, the deputies support people who burned down the Cars relay, that poses a problem to me,” complains Guillaume Guérin.
In a divided agricultural world, more than 170 farmers from Haute-Vienne support the New Popular Front
While the RN came first in 190 of the 195 communes of Haute-Vienne, in the Europeans, these exchanges summarize the nature of the public debate in Haute-Vienne, which seems to be polarized around a possible choice of second round, between the RN and LFI. According to Guillaume Guérin, at least two left-wing elected officials in the urban community refuse this choice. The central block leaves the possibility of a “neither-nor”, potentially explosive. “We are left-wing elected officials who blocked the situation,” recalls Olivier Ducourtieux (PS). I will also see if it is done on the other side. »
Guillaume Guérin, for his part, maintains his position of non-withdrawal. “If you are in front and I maintain my candidacies, that suits you,” he emphasizes. The commitment of the president of LR symbolizes in itself the erasure of the Macronist, whose motives can be perplexing. Two years ago, Les Républicains had contributed to defeating Sophie Beaudouin-Hubière and her substitute Isabelle Négrier, whom they support today.
” Scam “
The outgoing Damien Maudet and Manon Meunier are particularly concerned by this policy of “neither RN nor LFI”. And it doesn’t matter if they claim more from François Ruffin, instigator of the NFP, or from Clémentine Autain, than from Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The participation of the deputy in the demonstrations of Sainte-Soline constitutes Guillaume Guérin’s clincher argument. “Your candidate had no business going to a banned demonstration”, he judges. “Who are you to give good points to the right and the left?”, retorts Thierry Miguel.
In Haute-Vienne, the Republican Alternative does not differentiate between the union of the left and the extreme right
The day before, in the Limoges municipal council, Émile Roger Lombertie had mocked, without mentioning it, the New Popular Front, “all united to defend his position as deputy”. “We were warned,” he adds, “the polls and a few personalities (including Michel Onfray) had warned us, the people, despised by their elites, will make their voices heard at the polls. »
“The right continues to prevent its left-wing opposition from expressing itself on the danger of the RN coming to power by talking about wild ideas,” regrets his opponent Thierry Miguel, on X (ex-Twitter). “Guillaume Guérin’s pseudonym Arc Républicain is a scam,” adds the new socialist. “They are against the left, that’s all.”
In Limoges, left-wing voters want to “stand together” to face the legislative elections
Another symbol of the tensions in the Limougeaud debate, the case of Frédéric Roch, advisor responsible for greening, had his delegation withdrawn, after his arrest for anti-RN tags on municipal street furniture. “You are playing with fire by first targeting the NFP instead of the RN,” he reacts, in writing.
A fragmentation “grenade”
Everything happens as if “the grenade” that Emmanuel Macron said he pulled the pin in Oradour, the day after its dissolution, functioned as a “psychic coup d’état”, according to the expression of Raphaël Llorca. “The only person responsible is the one who pulled the grenade,” says Gulsen Yildirim. In two weeks, this decision seized up the republican mechanisms, which, until now, had prevented the RN from gaining power.
With Emmanuel Macron, the day after, in the ruins of Oradour
On Sunday, this polarization and the politicization it implies could lead to an increase in participation and probable triangulars. An unprecedented political event since 1997 in the department and the withdrawal in the second round of an environmentalist candidate. Who will benefit? “We are talking about civil war, an ungovernable country,” concludes the mayor of Boisseuil, Philippe Janicot. People are waiting for answers. » This Thursday evening, they didn’t have any: elected officials were busy sweeping in front of a burning house.
Sébastien Dubois
