Written by Nicolas Chigot
A mixed atmosphere this Sunday evening, June 30, at the HQ of the Insoumis, New Popular Front in Limoges. The announcement of the national results caused a shock among the activists despite the relative relief of the two outgoing deputies who came out on top in Haute-Vienne. An uncertain final result that mobilizes a large, often young, activist base. Atmosphere and reactions.
8 p.m., after the count, the national results come in. Although expected, the RN score freezes the room. Among the 250 activists, many young, cries end up erupting, tears start flowing. “It’s not possible !”, shouts a young man in a striped shirt, in a mood to kick a trash can. It will take a few steps and a supportive look from someone in charge to calm down. We don’t let ourselves go in front of our camera.
After listening to the first speeches, part of the room empties. Outside, we relax, we wipe away tears, we hug each other to comfort each other. “On the local level, Damien Maudet is leading in my constituency, but on the national level, I am appalled, I wonder how people think to arrive at this vote. I work in the neighborhoods with young people. I am afraid for their future, for my children too,” laments a young woman with red eyes.
In the tight schedule of the evening, Damien Maudet took the time to make an appearance around 8:15 p.m. We must remobilize the troops, avoid falling into a looming depression and resignation. “There is certainly the wave of national unity. But there is ours too. That of hope. We owe it to the deputies who are present and among the most active in the Assembly, but also to you, the activists. You who have been everywhere, every day for two weeks.”
Also read: LEGISLATIVE 2024. The RN vote on the rise in Limousin
The figures for the department’s towns are starting to fall. The election night screening is then interrupted to tally up the scores. If the results from Limoges are reassuring for these activists with more than 40% for the two LFI-NFP candidates, those from small towns are surprising. In Bellac, the RN candidate, Albin Freychet, is close to 40%. In Ambazac, long a bastion of the left, Camille Dos Santos de Oliveira (RN) has more than 42%. A member of Damien Maudet’s campaign team arrives standing KO, looking defeated. “We’ve been combing this territory for years. We’re everywhere, we’re working hard and that’s it. I don’t understand this score.”
All denounce the absence of the RN on the ground and perceive the RN score as an injustice.
The results are gradually consolidating. If Damien Maudet is well in the lead, the gap of just over 2,000 votes is not huge. And above all, the RN’s progress is impressive. In 2022, the candidate at the time, Christiane Gédoux, had 18.55% and 7,884 votes. Camille Dos Santos de Oliveira had 32.83% and 18,904 votes. 11,020 more votes in two years. However, she had no local roots in the department. Departmental delegate of the RN in Creuse, she was a Reconquête! candidate in Corrèze in 2022 and had only 3.31%.
In the third constituency, Albin Freychet had 19.66%, 8,117 votes. He has 34.85%, 19,310 votes in 2024. 11,193 more votes in two years.
Also read: MAP. Results in Haute-Vienne: three candidates in the runoff in the three constituencies at the end of the first round of the 2024 legislative elections
Around 10:30 p.m., the two outgoing deputies, Manon Meunier and Damien Maudet, harangued the troops and encouraged them to return to combat. “You have to go after the voices with your teeth!”
Candidates who can count on a large and young activist base. As soon as the dissolution was announced, many students, including young people who had not been politicized until then, joined the New Popular Front to leaflet and go door to door.
This Sunday evening, boards with the agenda of actions to be carried out during the week were quickly filling up with names and telephone numbers. The campaign for the second round has already started.
