This constituency in Gironde is the only one where the RN is not in the second round of the legislative elections.

In Gironde, during the 1^is In the 2024 legislative elections, the National Rally came out on top in six constituencies, the New Popular Front in five others and Ensemble in the last.

The 2nd constituency of Gironde, which constitutes the center of Bordeaux (cantons III, IV, V and VII) Bordeaux, is the only one in which a candidate from the National Rally was not qualified for the second round. With Ludovic Renard, political scientist at Sciences Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux news tried to understand this vote.

Nearly 50% of the votes for Nicolas Thierry

This Sunday, May 30, 2024, the outgoing MP Nicolas Thierry (NFP) came first in the votes in the 2nd constituency with 49.45% of the votes, ahead of Véronique Juramy (Ensemble) who won 29% of the votes.

13.99% of voters chose the candidate of National gathering Flavie Fournier, who was therefore not qualified for the second round. Everywhere else in Gironde, far-right candidates could be elected on July 7.

“The Bordeaux centre constituency has a very particular sociologysince it is at the center of the chessboard,” begins the political scientist.

Historically, in the municipal elections, while it had long given its votes to the mayor of Bordeaux Alain Juppé, “it had changed hands when Juppé was in difficulty and had gone to Michèle Delaunay (PS)”, relates Ludovic Renard. And then, in 2020, the inhabitants of the constituency voted in majority for the ecologist mayor Pierre Hurmic.

Electoral sociology

An environmentalist vote which was confirmed in the 2022 legislative elections. Nicolas Thierry was placed in the lead with 45% of the votes in the first round, then elected with 53% of the votes in the second. “He also pleaded for an electoral alliance with LFI, and he takes advantage of the sociology of his constituency which is very committed to social issues and ecological,” notes Ludovic Renard.

The population there is “rather well-off, works in buoyant economic environments and constitutes a part of the Bordeaux bourgeoisie”. In the electoral sociology from the second constituency of Gironde, “we do not find what characterizes a part of the RN voters : residents are protected from the lack of public service and from what causes the social unrest that leads to RN votes.”

However, “we have seen very wealthy constituencies, where there is no immigration and where public services are well present, which choose to vote for the extreme right,” underlines the political scientist. As in Arcachon, where the RN candidate Laurent Lamara came in first with 36.8% of the votes ahead of Sophie Pananocle (PS, 31.7%).

According to the political scientist, “it is the fear of cultural collapse and civilizational change that partly motivates this vote.” However, in the center of Bordeaux, “it is clearly not the same state of mind”: the extreme right is excluded from the equation in the second round and in view of the votes, Nicolas Thierry has a chance of being re-elected.

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