In the former Languedoc-Roussillon, the National Rally (RN) confirms its positions, with first-round results above those recorded in 2022, doubling the number of votes garnered in some places. In the first round of the early legislative elections, this Sunday evening, June 30, 2024, and despite increased participation, the RN thus comes out on top in 17 of the 23 constituencies of the former Languedoc-Roussillon, managing to elect three deputies in the first round, one in Hérault, one in Gard and one in Pyrénées-Orientales.
Legislative election results: RN in force after the first round
Herault : two resistance pockets
In 2017, voters in Hérault had only elected one far-right deputy (Emmanuelle Ménard) in the nine constituencies. In 2022, two RN deputies were added, Stéphanie Galzy and Aurélien Lopez Liguori. At the end of the first round of the 2024 early legislative elections, the RN is positioned in the lead everywhere with the exception of two constituencies, and the RN candidate Aurélien Lopez Liguori is re-elected in the 7th constituency with 51.66% of the votes (37,495 votes against 16,079 in 2022).
Only two pockets of resistance are showing. In the 2nd constituency, the only 100% Montpellier constituency, the outgoing LFI-NFP MP Nathalie Oziol is re-elected with 58.22% of the votes (24,707 votes, compared to 11,513 in 2022), well ahead of Robert Le Stum (Renaissance) at 17.04% and Flavia Mangano (RN) at 16.97%. In the 3rd constituency, it is Fanny Dombre-Coste (PS-NFP) who comes out on top with 33.9% of the votes ahead of Lauriane Troise (RN) at 32.28% and Laurence Cristol (Renaissance) at 29.10%.
In the first constituency, the outgoing MP and Secretary of State for Veterans, Patricia Mirallès, is marking time: she comes in 3rd place with 22.54% of the vote, while the LR-RN candidate Josyan Oliva comes out on top with 34.11%, followed very closely by the NFP environmentalist Jean-Louis Roumegas with 34.04%. The second round match will therefore be decided on the transfer of votes, if Patricia Mirallès withdraws, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal having called on the candidates of the presidential majority who came in 3rd place to withdraw in order to block the RN.
In the 6th constituency, Emmanuelle Ménard, outgoing deputy (various far-right) and wife of the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, comes in second position with 27.23% of the votes, well ahead of RN candidate Julien Gabarron (41.11% ) but ahead of the LRI-NFP candidate (21.03%).
At the end of this first electoral round, five of the seven constituencies where voters will return to the polls could be played out on a triangular basis. Six candidates from the presidential majority (Patricia Mirallès, Laurence Cristol, Jean-François Eliaou, Philippe Huppé, Isabelle Autier and Patrick Vignal) and one from the NFP (Magali Crozier) are in 3rd position, likely to withdraw.
Legislative: “Macronist bloc erased”, call for “new republican front”: the main political reactions
Gard, Pyrénées-Orientales, hears : the RN strengthened
In the Gardwhere four out of six deputies were from the RN in 2022, the far-right party has one elected official after the first round, Nicolas Meizonnet (52.22%, or 34,427 votes against 15,434 in 2022) in the 2nd constituency, and is largely ahead in all the others: Yoann Gillet with 43.91% of the vote (ahead of LFI-NFP at 29.54%), Pascale Bordes with 47.49% of the vote (ahead of PC-NFP 22.91%), Pierre Meurin (48.69% ahead of PS-NFP 27.38%), Alexandre Allegret-Pilot with 41.02% of the vote (ahead of LFI-NFP at 33.03%), and Sylvie Josserand with 42.07% of the vote (ahead of EELV-NFP at 28.77%).
For the second round, three triangular races are therefore possible, with candidates from the presidential majority in third position each time.
In the Eastern Pyrenees, the RN had already conquered the four constituencies in 2022. At the end of the first round of the 2024 early legislative elections, it is in the lead everywhere and strengthens its scores. Its outgoing MP Anaïs Sabatini was elected in the 2nd constituency with 54.98% of the vote (or 38,323 votes, compared to 17,811 in 2022). Only one triangular is possible for the second round, with a candidate from the presidential majority in difficulty.
In Audewhere the RN had also won in 2022, Marine Le Pen’s party came out on top in all three constituencies. In the first constituency, the outgoing RN candidate Christophe Barthès recorded 49.33% of the vote (i.e. 32,916 votes, compared to 15,871 in 2022), just a hair’s breadth away from being elected, leaving the NPA-NFP candidate Philippe Poutou (18.70%) far behind… Only one three-way race is possible in the second round, in the 2nd constituency: the RN candidate, the outgoing MP Frédéric Falcon, starts with a strong lead (48.12% of the vote, compared to 28.13% in 2022) ahead of the EELV-NFP candidate at 26.02% and the Renaissance candidate at 19.32%.
Lozere : Pierre Morel-à-L’Huissier in difficulty
In Lozerean alternation could emerge: Pierre Morel-à-L’Huissier, deputy (various right) since 2002, comes in 3rd position at the end of the first round, with 24.04% of the votes against 35.18% for the PS-NFP candidate Sophie Pantel and 33.91% for the RN candidate Luc-Etienne Gousseau.
Legislative: participation reaches 67.5%, a record since 1997
Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse call for the Republican front
The two main regional political figures, Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse, both labeled PS-New Popular Front (NFP) without hesitation and clearly called for the Republican front to block the National Rally (RN) in the second round.
« Socialists, as always, call for the Republic to win, declared the president of the Occitanie Region, on the set of TF1 Sunday evening. We must ask the candidates of all parties in 3rd position to withdraw, and we must vote for the candidate who can beat the far right. And I call on the LR and La République en marche candidates who are in 3rd position to also withdraw, without waiting for instructions from their devices. If they continue, it’s disgrace! This evening, we have one party, it is France, one program, it is the Republic, and we must stand and be united…”
As for the mayor of Montpellier and president of the metropolis, he declared: “I would like to welcome the very strong participation and the significant decline in abstention which does not make the arrival of the extreme right to power inevitable. The French have measured the stakes of this 1st round for the destiny of France. (…) The strong participation leads to very many triangulars. The far right is in a position of strength: it can obtain an absolute majority. It is a threat to democratic freedoms, to our binational fellow citizens, in the face of racism and anti-Semitism, to the image of France in the world… I therefore clearly call for systematic republican withdrawal for the candidate came in 3rd position. No political force should make the election of an RN deputy possible by choosing to remain at the risk of bearing the responsibility of giving power to the extreme right. I invite voters, starting this evening, to support and mobilize for the candidate best placed against the RN to block it”
