the essential
Re-elected as deputy for the 4th constituency of Haute-Garonne in the first round of early legislative elections on Sunday, June 30, François Piquemal does not hide his desire to “propose an alternative” for the 2026 municipal elections in Toulouse. Quick portrait.
For these early legislative elections, the second round of which takes place on Sunday July 7, and this lightning campaign, he uses the sporting metaphor, a nod to the Euro: “In politics, there are many similarities with a football match, twists and turns, everything is open”, confided, Monday July 1, the outgoing LFI deputy, the day after his re-election in the 4th constituency of Haute-Garonne in the first round with 53.39% of the votes under the banner of the New Popular Front (NFP).
Rates of 88% in some offices
Even obtaining 88% in some Toulouse offices (75 in the 4th constituency). Enough to give wings to this professor of literature and history-geography at the Mirail vocational high school (on leave since 2022), aged 39. The former spokesperson for DAL 31, an activist for around twenty years in the Toulouse associative network (school support, Secours populaire, etc.), is also capable of radicalism in terms of the right to housing.
“I continue my commitments…”
“I am someone who continues his commitments in the political fields, but I started campaigning twenty years ago,” explains François Piquemal, who mentions two key periods of his commitment: his six-month stay in Mali in 2012, for the benefit of West African associations, and his long stint and his outbursts at DAL31. The forty-year-old, elected by the municipal opposition in Toulouse, does not mince his words about the municipality’s record. His blows exchanged with the mayor of Toulouse, until his resignation at the end of 2022, marked each meeting of the municipal council.
“Propose an alternative for 2026”
In the 2020 municipal elections, he was on the Archipel Citoyen list and, as things stand, does not rule out trying his luck in 2026. “In 2017, the constituency was won by Macron’s party, which we took back in 2022, but this time we have 6,000 more voters. I see three dynamics: the NFP program that won over, the superb campaign by the activists and the work on the ground to convince. In 2022, no one predicted my victory. I think that Moudenc is putting the people of Toulouse in danger, he is becoming the RN’s special privilege and is committing his responsibility as a republican by not calling for a blockade against the far right. He is showing his darkest face. It is therefore our responsibility to propose an alternative for the 2026 municipal elections. Who will embody it? For the moment, it is not the priority. Even before the dissolution, I was asked to do so. encouraged.”
Until Sunday, François Piquemal wants to focus on supporting “my comrades from other constituencies and helping to ensure that as many NFP deputies as possible are elected to create a majority in the National Assembly.”
