AThe day after the first round of the legislative elections, Anne-Laure Babault’s phone’s voicemail was full and could no longer receive messages. While in the neighboring third constituency (Saintes – Saint-Jean-d’Angély), Jean-Philippe Ardouin had announced on the morning of this Monday 1is July of her withdrawal to block the RN, the deputy…
AThe day after the first round of the legislative elections, Anne-Laure Babault’s phone’s voicemail was full and could no longer receive messages. While in the neighboring third constituency (Saintes – Saint-Jean-d’Angély), Jean-Philippe Ardouin had announced on the morning of this Monday 1is July of her withdrawal to block the RN, the outgoing Modem MP remained unreachable.
It is therefore difficult to gauge her intentions 24 hours after having assured on Sunday evening that she was staying. Considering that she was the only one able to beat the RN candidate Karen Bertholom who came in first (26,862 votes) thanks to the reserves of votes of Hervé Blanché (LR) and his 9,651 ballots, Anne-Laure Babault had demanded that Benoît Biteau withdraw “in responsibility”. Despite a disbursement of 1,254 votes (1). Since then, she has not spoken.
Meanwhile, calls for a Republican withdrawal multiplied during the day on Monday, such as that of the head of the Europe Écologie Les Verts list for the European elections, Marie Toussaint, who made this comment on the social network X: “When, as an outgoing MP, you arrive in 3rd placee place, disowned by his voters, acting “responsibly” means withdrawing his candidacy”. According to his count updated at 5 p.m., more than twenty deputies from the presidential majority who came in third place while the RN was in the lead had not withdrawn.
Petitions
Two petitions were even launched on the online platform Change.org: one had exceeded a thousand signatures by 8 p.m., the second, more modest, had only collected around sixty signatures.
In the meantime, the question of a withdrawal has not crossed Benoît Biteau’s mind: he filed his candidacy for the second round at the prefecture on Monday afternoon. According to him, “executives of Anne-Laure Babault’s political party” are trying to influence the position of the outgoing MP.
With one issue in the balance: the possibility of a retaliatory measure in another constituency which presents a similar case with reversed labels: a Green candidate who came in 3rde place could then not disappear in favor of the candidate of the presidential majority better placed. A pressure move which makes Benoît Biteau “a little embarrassed” he recognizes.
A former Modem MP for the constituency between 2017 and 2022, Frédérique Tuffnell would have given up if the same situation had presented itself to her. For reasons of principle – “respect for republican principles and the primacy of the general interest” – but also of opportunity: “the gap in votes against Anne-Laure is too great. It may be possible but too risky.”
(1) 21,027 votes for Benoît Biteau and 19,773 for Anne-Laure Babault.
