After having nearly won in 2017 with 12 deputies stamped presidential majority in the 14 constituencies of the Rhône, is Emmanuel Macron risking zero points the day after the second round of the early legislative elections, in about ten days? It was to avoid a blank page that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal went to Lyon on Friday June 28. However, the trip had started badly after the cancellation of the visit to Meyzieu of the school recently set on fire by two teenagers following a mix-up with the mayor Christophe Quiniou (LR), a supporter in the 13e constituency of tenor Philippe Meunier (LR).
Summer atmosphere on the eve of the first round
Rudeness of the head of government? Petty politics of the Lyon right? The wrongs are probably shared. In any case, it is in the 6e district that the outgoing Décines MP Sarah Tanzilli (Renaissance) had to go to in order to get her photo with Gabriel Attal, support that will not be too much in the face of the threat of the National Rally in the East of Lyon, alongside the local of the stage, Anne Brugnera (Renaissance), whose position is hardly more enviable in a 4e constituency historically favorable to the Republican right.
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There was a hint of a summer university atmosphere to see the Prime Minister sitting at a table on a terrace under the trees of Place Kléber in the company of the two MPs, between two photos with passers-by. The same summer atmosphere in Vieux Lyon for Gabriel Attal, supervised this time by Cyrille Isaac-Sibille (MoDem, 12e constituency) and Thomas Rudigoz (Renaissance, 1time constituency), between a pink praline pecan ice cream at Nardone and a trip to the Petit musée de Guignol.
The extreme right is present in the background
But not at La Traboule, the headquarters of Les Remparts, whose dissolution was announced on Wednesday, June 26 by Gérald Darmanin in the Council of Ministers. While violent far-right groups were indeed discussed in the discussions with shopkeepers on Rue Saint-Jean, the Prime Minister advanced to Place du Change without venturing down the stairs leading a few dozen meters further to the bastion of Lyon’s identitarians. A missed opportunity even in the speech by the head of government a few minutes later, where La Traboule or Les Remparts were never mentioned.
Also read on Tribune de Lyon: Gabriel Attal cancels his visit to Meyzieu: short story of a big hiccup
But the issue was clearly elsewhere: apart from a few invectives – ” Get lost, we’re on vacation », « Out Attal ” – the Prime Minister took numerous photos in front of an often benevolent audience. ” Well done for the nuance of your remarks during the debates. “, said a merchant from Place Saint-Paul, concerned about the fate of his foreign employees, before his interlocutor went to Ternay to support Jean-Luc Fugit (Renaissance) in the 11e Rhone constituency.
“Our candidates have experienced the greatest momentum”
« Since the start of this campaign, the Ensemble pour la République candidates are those who have had the greatest momentumsaid Gabriel Attal. I would like to remind you that two weeks ago we were at a little over 14% and that today we are in the polls around 21 or 22%, because the French know that the legislative elections are something completely different from the European elections, and that the French are attached to the values of the Republic and are attached to the fact that we continue to act for their jobs. » Regardless of the polling institutes, the presidential majority is however given well behind the National Rally and the New Popular Front.
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However, the head of government wants to believe in the survival of a central pole. “ The left which has the choice to ally itself with Jean-Luc Mélenchon s‘East cut off from a large part of the possibilities of winning against the extreme right. Today, the only force that can prevail against the extreme right is the candidates Together for the Republic “, he estimated. Modeled on the map of legislative constituencies, the results of the European elections draw another omen: the RN came first in 7 constituencies, LFI in 5, the PS and Renaissance in only one each.
