2024 Legislative Elections: RN rather than Emmanuelle Menard in all the municipalities of the 6th constituency of Hérault

There are happy aftermaths of elections, others a little less so. This is the case this time for Emmanuelle Ménard who probably did not imagine, just a few days ago, achieving such a score in the first round of the legislative elections, even against a candidate from the National Rally, completely unknown on his territory. The outgoing various right-wing MP does not come out on top in any of the 17 municipalities in the sixth constituency of Hérault.

The Biterroise finds herself in an unfavourable ballot with 27.23% of the votes cast against 41.1% in favour of Julien Gabarron (13.8% of the votes in favour of the candidate of the New Popular Front Magali Crozier also qualified for the second round). Emmanuelle Ménard achieves her best scores in Béziers (28.8%), in Lignan-sur-Orb, Valras and Portiragnes. But at no time did her electorate who had voted massively in her favour two years earlier give her the same confidence.

Julien Gabarron, representative of the RN in Hérault for several months, is in the lead, in all the municipalities with a rather comfortable score (up to more than 50% of the votes, for example in Colombiers). The RN candidate exceeds 40% of the votes except in Béziers (35%) but he remains in the lead in the Ménard couple’s fiefdom. The MP, re-elected with almost 70% of the vote two years earlier, this time barely totalled 29% in the city led by her husband Robert Ménard since 2014.

But what has happened since 2022?

The political context is no longer the same. Two years ago Emmanuelle Ménard was nevertheless in the lead in the 17 municipalities of her constituency, with results, there too, well above 40% of the votes cast; up to 53.6% of the votes in Lieuran-lès-Béziers (against 27.2 this Sunday evening)

This time, voters decided to vote differently. For what reasons? A useful vote to destabilize Emmanuel Macron and thus give an absolute majority to Jordan Bardella? This is what we wanted to know. We went to Sérignan, a town led by Frédéric Lacas, former president of the Béziers urban area.

Emmanuelle Ménard achieved a score of 44.5% of the votes in 2022. It barely reaches 23% this Sunday. His electorate admits to having voted massively for Marine Le Pen, but without knowing the name of his candidate in this constituency. None of the Sérignanais met are able to give their program. A sanction vote? Without a doubt.

Voters’ words

“If the national gathering arrived there, it is because the others did not work for France” confides one of them. “It was her husband who made her lose” add another one. “If Robert Ménard had kept his mouth shut, this wouldn’t have happened. Emmanuelle Ménard worked like a beast. We can’t say anything bad about her.

“If she was still in the National Rally, I would still have voted for her”

“Her husband works really well for his city, there’s nothing to say, but his national positions and his rapprochement with Macron do not correspond to our expectations. But he is a very intelligent mayor, we can’t say the opposite. But he hit his Marine too hard, on Zemmour. ‘We don’t know which foot he’s dancing on anymore.”

“This rise of the RN is like that of Macron, seven years ago”

“When the first hillbilly, unknown to everyone, presented himself in a constituency with the En Marche label, he was elected. It’s the same with those of the RN.”

Will Emmanuelle Ménard find the arguments to convince them in just between now and the second round this Sunday, July 7? Like many elected officials, she recently confided that the three weeks of campaigning had been far too short. What will her electorate do? The answer will be next Sunday.

Magali Crozier, third to qualify, confirmed this Monday evening to France Bleu that she will remain in the second round. 13,000 Béziers residents voted this Sunday in favor of the candidate of the Union of the Left (21% of the votes). This is 2,000 more than in the second round of the 2022 legislative elections.