Nicolas Meizonnet is the only deputy from Gard to be elected in the first round of these early legislative elections.
The result is clear and relentless. With 52.22% of the votes, Nicolas Meizonnet regains his seat as deputy for the 2nd constituency of Gard, in a department where the National Rally came first in all constituencies for the first time.
“In the Gard, we achieved the grand slam”
In front of the Bizet hall in Vauvert, which centralizes all the offices of the municipality, men are seated at a table on the terrace of a café. One man calls out to another: “So how much ?” How much what? How much did Katy Guyot make, in the lead in this working-class neighborhood of small council houses? How much did the RN make at the national level? No, the man asks about the score of the England Slovakia match. The result on Vauvert, “Well, I kind of suspect that. It’s always the same here… What do you want me to tell you?“
In the old center of Vauvert, the atmosphere in a private house is much livelier. Behind a heavy door that filters guests, supporters and friends of Nicolas Meizonnet flock from all over the constituency. “Have you seen the score of Grau-du-Roi?” enthuses a lady. Applause greets the outgoing RN deputy who has just announced his re-election in the first round with 52.22%. “In the Gard, we achieved the grand slam and starting tomorrow, I will get down to helping my colleagues who are facing a candidate from the New Popular Front, far-left candidates with dangerous programs. We must mobilize strongly to prevent these people from coming to power and so that we can embody an alternative to Macron’s policy.”
An increase in RN scores
Nicolas Meizonnet has, of course, obtained significant scores in cities that traditionally vote RN like Saint-Gilles (56.43%) but has also seen his score increase in municipalities like Grau-du-Roi (57.65%, compared to 37.35% in 2022). The result, according to him, “of the work carried out in this constituency with a presence on the ground alongside the fishermen of Grau-du-Roi. I have taken up the cause of offshore wind power, the problems of winegrowers, farmers, etc. A local anchoring which is of course associated with a very good dynamic at the national level!”
Midi Libre – C. M.
For Katy Guyot, who came in second place: “It’s clearance!”
This result is, of course, a disappointment for Katy Guyot. Vauvert’s first deputy ran under the banner of the New Popular Front and came in second place with 23.85%: “I am in second place, but it was a very, very difficult fight and I am proud to have fought it. It is the consequence of a legislative election following a European election: we knew that voters would keep this tendency to express their anger at Emmanuel Macron. It is a get-out! My second place still means that the presidential majority, whether it is called Renaissance, Horizons or something else, is in great difficulty. Emmanuel Macron played with fire. Like the sorcerer’s apprentice…” The candidate will also be alongside the New Popular Front candidates present in the second round. “A furrow has been dug: we must now continue to work on the ground.”
The figures are indeed eloquent: in 2022, Nicolas Meizonnet came out on top in the first round with 35.39% of the vote, compared to 23.05% for the Macronist candidate Yvan Lachaud. Nicolas Meizonnet has therefore gained nearly 17 points in two years… Behind him, Katy Guyot therefore obtains 23.85% while the candidate for the Presidential Majority, Sophie Pellegrin-Ponsole only achieves 14.11%. No surprise, however, for the representative of the Republicans, Catherine Bolle (6.30%), whom no one has really seen in the campaign or for Stéphane Manson, the phantom candidate of this constituency. For Véronique Jullian and L’écologie au centre, her 2.79% places her in 5th position out of six.
With these results, Nicolas Meizonnet is therefore the only MP, and an outgoing MP at that, to be elected in the first round of these legislative elections. And will therefore be able to watch the second round unfold calmly next weekend.
