Three candidates finished the first round neck and neck. Tiffanie Rabault (RN), who is running for the first time, is hot on the heels of the two candidates who made it to the second round in 2022. Faced with this lightning breakthrough, Ghislaine Kounowski (PS/NFP) is withdrawing to act as a barrier.
Three blocs are dominant in France, and in the Orléans-Sud constituency, their three representatives are neck and neck, and have obtained enough votes for a three-way race to take place on Sunday, July 7. Stéphanie Rist (Ensemble) is in the lead, closely followed by Ghislaine Kounowski (PS/NFP) who is only 69 votes behind her. The third strong candidate is that of Tiffanie Rabault (RN).
The far-right candidate is the one who shows the most confidence: “Our results are aligned with the European elections.” Her position does not change one iota, she considers herself to be the only alternative to Emmanuel Macron’s policy: “Stop or even 49-3? Stop or even social breakdown? Stop or even immigration and insecurity ?”
A call for the Republican roadblock
In the center and on the left, and despite their lead of a thousand votes, Stéphanie Rist is delighted with the high participation in the constituency (69.17%), but refuses to make any comments with the exception of a barrage to the RN.
“I call on all Republican candidates to support me.”
Stephanie Rist (Outgoing MP (Together))
If we ask her if Ghislaine Kounowski should withdraw, she does not answer yes but “all the candidates.”
Fear of the National Rally is certain among the left-wing electorate, and the PS/NFP candidate is no exception. “I am faced with a difficult choice. I visited polling stations, mothers encouraged me, I do not want to disappoint them…” admits Ghislaine Kounowski when faced with the final results. “I have to do calculations. If there is the slightest chance that the RN candidate will come to power, I will withdraw.”
Guillaume Chassang, the fourth man, a centrist, could swing the election: “I want to block Macronism and populism, I mean the RN. The NFP is populist but the socialist candidate is not from La France Insoumise.”
Political reactions in Loiret on the evening of the first round of legislative elections
“I said I wanted to defend the Republic”
Despite everything, Ghislaine Kounowski finally announced her withdrawal: “Some of the LR votes can be transferred to the RN.”
“On my poster, I said that I wanted to defend the Republic. I must follow this thought through. If I had arrived first, things would have been different…”
Ghislaine Kounowski (Candidate PS/NFP)
A boulevard therefore extends for the outgoing candidate Stéphanie Rist.
Tiffanie Rabault suspected it. She comments scathingly: “The left makes noise, demonstrates, but it is Macron’s reserve of votes.”
First round results:
Stephanie Rsit (Ensemble): 31.60%
Ghislaine Kounowski (PS-NFP) : 31,47 %
Tiffanie Rabault (RN) : 28,03 %
Guillaume Chassang (New Center): 6.82%
Nicole Maurice (Reconquest): 1.24%
Claude Treka (LO) : 0.83 %
Jeffrey Charpentier
 withdraws, Rist (Ensemble) and Rabault (RN) in the second round){kind=link}