Arriving respectively in third and fourth position during the first round this Sunday, June 30, the Ensemble and LR candidates refuse to withdraw, each considering themselves to be the only possible bulwark for the RN.
A choice between four candidates. The 8th constituency of Rhône will see four candidates compete in the second round of the legislative elections on Sunday July 7, the four having qualified during the first round.
The candidate of the National Rally, Jonathan Gery, came first in this first round in the 8th constituency of Rhône with 33.46% of the votes, and unsurprisingly maintains his candidacy for the second round.
The left denounces “political irresponsibility”
In second position is the socialist candidate of the New Popular Front, Anne Reymbaut, who won 22.75% of the votes, and who denounces the retention of the two candidates who came behind her.
“I can’t believe they’re staying in, it’s politically irresponsible. By staying in, they’re sure that the RN will be elected. It’s not just a personal issue, it’s in the general interest,” the candidate told BFM Lyon, referring to a “boulevard for the RN.”
She also expressed her hesitation about withdrawing her own candidacy for the second round. “But I came second. It’s not up to me to withdraw,” she said.
The surprise comes rather from the outgoing LR MP, Nathalie Serre, who came in fourth position with 20.66% of the vote, but who refuses for the moment to withdraw.
“My voters do not vote for the RN, nor for the macronie nor for LFI. If I withdraw, I am playing into the hands of the RN,” she told BFM Lyon. “The only candidacy that can face the RN is mine.”
Disagreement between the right and the presidential camp
She also explained her candidacy in a long post on her Facebook account, where she states that the only possibility of seeing the RN defeated in the second round in this constituency is not only that she maintains her candidacy, but that the Ensemble candidate who came in third place (21.18%), Dominique Despras, withdraws his.
“This is perhaps the paradox of this election: I think I am the only one capable of winning this second round against the RN,” she judges.
She also underlines that the candidacy of Dominique Despras for this legislative election had been submitted “despite the national directives of his camp which called for not placing a candidate against the outgoing LR deputies who had chosen clarity”.
For his part, at the end of this first round, Dominique Despras also believes that he is the only bulwark against the National Rally, calling on the outgoing MP to line up behind him.
“I invite the outgoing MP, who also knows the terrain and whom I thank for having publicly expressed her vision of this republican arc, to take a reasonable position in line with the motivations of her voters,” he himself wrote on his Facebook account, affirming to BFM Lyon that “it is up to the fourth to withdraw” and that “if we want a chance to face the RN we must take the candidacy most to the center.”
Arthur Blet with Hugo Frances
