There was a tremor, around 7:50 p.m., this Sunday, June 30, in the lobby of the town hall in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. As the counting was completed from office to office, candidate Guillaume Lepers (LR) asserted himself as the one who had prevented the National Rally, and therefore Annick Cousin, outgoing MP, from winning in the first round. Shortly before the polls closed, the man was not serene: “As long as I limit the RN’s score, that’s fine with me. I launched this campaign for that, to prevent it from passing in the first round,” he said aside.
With 24.99% of the votes, Guillaume Lepers won his bet and even reached the second round. And it was in complete sobriety that he announced, adorned with the mayor’s sash, the results for his city where he came second. Because he refuses to declare victory and “show off”… With 41.08% of the votes, Annick Cousin took a nice lead, in a vote which mobilized 70% of voters. “The second round will not be easy,” declared the Republican candidate. But, you know me, I like tough fights. »
First attack
A few minutes later, when the results for Fumélois, Confluent, Quatre Cantons, Pays de Serres and Monflanquinois were coming in, Guillaume Lepers no longer hid his satisfaction: “There too, we came second with Émeline Rey [sa suppléante, NDLR]and that, really, is a nice surprise. A surprise also for all those who said during the campaign that I had no chance in these territories, where, supposedly, I was not known.
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From this Monday, the candidate is back on the campaign trail, as the spearhead of the Republican front, after the call for the transfer of votes in his favor by Xavier Czapla and Jérôme Cahuzac. He who, in 2022, had refused, as mayor, to call on his voters to block the National Rally, now has the mission to do so.
On Sunday evening, he launched his first attack against his only opponent, “an MP who has been invisible for two years and who is not up to the task of this territory. We will try to explain to people that it is important to have an MP who is rooted in the territory and who knows the problems of this constituency.” Guillaume Lepers and Émeline Rey therefore did not intend, at the end of this first round of the legislative elections, to pop the champagne, “but rather to get back to work tonight.”
