In the former Languedoc-Roussillon, the National Rally (RN) confirmed its positions, with first-round results above those recorded in 2022, doubling the number of votes garnered in some places. Thus, despite increased turnout which will have benefited it, the RN came out on top in 17 of the 23 constituencies of the former Languedoc-Roussillon in the first round of the early legislative elections this Sunday evening, June 30, 2024, managing to elect three deputies in this first round, one in Hérault, one in Gard and one in Pyrénées-Orientales. Another candidate (LFI-NFP) was elected at the end of the first round, in Hérault.
Carole Delga, president (PS) of the Occitanie Region, and Michaël Delafosse, president (PS) of the Montpellier Metropolis, both clearly call on the Republican front (see box).
Legislative election results: RN in force after the first round
Hérault : two pockets of resistance
In 2017, voters in Herault had elected only one far-right MP (Emmanuelle Ménard) in the nine constituencies. In 2022, two RN MPs were added, Stéphanie Galzy and Aurélien Lopez Liguori. At the end of the first round of the 2024 early legislative elections, the RN was in the lead everywhere except in two constituencies, and the RN candidate Aurélien Lopez Liguori was re-elected in the 7th constituency with 51.66% of the votes (37,495 votes against 16,079 in 2022).
Only two resistance pockets are displayed. In the 2nd constituency, the only 100% Montpellier constituency, outgoing LFI-NFP MP Nathalie Oziol was re-elected with 58.22% of the vote (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 in first 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 Affairs Patricia Mirallès is marking time: she comes in 3rd position with 22.54% of the votes, while the LR-RN candidate Josyan Oliva takes the lead at 34, 11%, followed very closely by the NFP ecologist Jean-Louis Roumegas at 34.04%. The second round match will therefore be decided on vote carryovers, if Patricia Mirallès withdraws, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal having called on the candidates of the presidential majority who came in 3rd position to withdraw to block the RN.
In the 6th constituency, Emmanuelle Ménard, outgoing MP (various far-right) and wife of the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, came in second with 27.23% of the vote, well ahead of the RN candidate Julien Gabarron (41.11%) but ahead of the LRI-NFP candidate (21.03%).
At the end of this first round of elections, five of the seven constituencies where voters will return to the polls could be decided on a three-way race. 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, Pyrenees-Orientales, hears : the RN reinforced
In the Gardwhere four out of six deputies came from the RN in 2022, the far-right party has one elected at the end of the first round, Nicolas Meizonnet (52.22%, or 34,427 votes against 15,434 in 2022) in the 2nd constituency, and takes the lead in all the others: Yoann Gillet with 43.91% of the votes (ahead of LFI-NFP at 29.54%), Pascale Bordes with 47.49% of the votes (ahead of PC-NFP 22.91 %), Pierre Meurin (48.69% ahead of PS-NFP 27.38%), Alexandre Allegret-Pilot with 41.02% of the votes (ahead of LFI-NFP at 33.03%), and Sylvie Josserand with 42.07 % of votes (ahead of EELV-NFP at 28.77%).
For the 2nd round, three triangulars are therefore possible, with candidates from the presidential majority in 3rd position each time.
In the Eastern Pyreneesthe RN had already won the four constituencies in 2022. At the end of the first round of the early legislative elections in 2024, it is in the lead everywhere and is strengthening its scores. Its outgoing MP Anaïs Sabatini was elected in the 2nd constituency with 54.98% of the votes (i.e. 38,323 votes, compared to 17,811 in 2022). Only one three-way race is possible for the second round, with a candidate from the presidential majority in difficulty.
In Aude, where the RN was also a hit in 2022, Marine Le Pen’s party comes first in the three constituencies. In the first constituency, the outgoing RN candidate Christophe Barthès recorded 49.33% of the votes (or 32,916 votes, against 15,871 in 2022), a hair’s breadth from being elected, leaving the NPA-NFP candidate Philippe Poutou (18) far behind. .70%)… Only one triangular is possible in the second round, in the 2nd constituency: the RN candidate, the outgoing deputy Frédéric Falcon, leaves with a strong lead (48.12% of the votes, against 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 Lozerecould an alternation emerge? Even though he garnered more votes in number compared to 2022, Pierre Morel-à-L’Huissier, deputy (various right) since 2002, came in 3rd position at the end of the first round, with 24.04% of the votes (i.e. 10,451 votes against 6,371 in 2022) against 35.18% for the PS-NFP candidate Sophie Pantel and 33.91% for the RN candidate Luc-Etienne Gousseau. In an unfavorable ballot in 2022, the right-wing deputy won in the 2nd round against the candidate Nupes. Will he withdraw for next July 7?
Legislative elections: participation reaches 67.5%, a record since 1997
Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse call for a republican front
The two main regional political figures, Carole Delga and Michaël Delafosse, both labelled PS-New Popular Front (NFP), have unhesitatingly and clearly called for a republican front to block the National Rally in the second round.
« The 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 high turnout and the significant decline in abstention, which does not make the arrival of the far right in power inevitable. The French have measured the stakes of this first round for the destiny of France. (…) The high turnout leads to very many three-way races. The far right is in a strong position: it can obtain an absolute majority. It is a threat to democratic freedoms, to our dual-nationality fellow citizens, in the face of racism and anti-Semitism, to the image of France in the world… I therefore clearly call for the systematic republican withdrawal of the candidate who came in 3rd position. No political force must make the election of an RN deputy possible by choosing to remain at the risk of bearing the responsibility of giving power to the far right. I invite voters, starting this evening, to support and mobilize for the candidate best placed against the RN to block it.”
