In Limoges, the results by polling station show a clear dominance of the left. But nuances are emerging, from which the right could well take advantage.
The scene describes both a form of relaxation and an unequivocal observation. At the town hall, this Sunday evening, the mayor of Limoges prefers to see the glass as half full: in the city he has governed since 2014, “the united right” has reached, in this first round of the legislative elections, nearly 60% of the votes cast.
“We can’t really say it like that, but on the other hand, we can say that the left only won 40% of the votes,” qualifies a witness.
NFP leads in over 70 polls
In fact, it’s a bit more than that: 42.7% in total. The New Popular Front is only beaten in ten of the city’s 86 polling stations, six times by the Republican Alternative and four by the RN.
The NFP is very strong in the political districts of the city, but achieves good scores in the former working-class districts of the city center. The results are mainly carried by LFI in the north and east of the municipality, with more than 16,000 of the 20,000 votes of the left. In the second constituency, the stock of votes is less important (3,800), but it is also the one with the fewest registered voters (14,000 against 33,000 in the first and 27,000 in the second).
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The Republican alternative, for its part, came out on top in a handful of polling stations in the city centre of Limoges, particularly around Léonard-Limosin.
She has a total of 13,843 votes, with strong points in the western districts of Limoges, but also around certain bourgeois residential areas in the city centre such as around the Feuillants school. This is 3,000 votes more than Émile Roger Lombertie in the first round in 2014, which also confirms the shift of part of the electorate towards the centre, in Limoges.
The new thing in Limoges, on the other hand, in this month of June 2024, is the breakthrough of the extreme right. With the votes of Debout la France, the RN is ahead of the central bloc, with more than 14,000 votes in Limoges. Without this contribution, it finds itself just behind, but with a difference of less than 500 votes.
The RN confirms its predominance in residential areas. It is in the lead in Beaune-les-Mines, but also in an office of the Homérides school, in the residential part of Beaubreuil.
The RN is progressing
Without being in the lead, he is also very strong around Landouge and in certain areas where conservative populations are present, in the city centre. He thus gains 3,700 votes compared to the European elections.
Given the national context, it is becoming difficult to imagine that it will not be a major player in the municipal elections in 2026. In 2014, the FN lost 2,300 votes between the two rounds, reinforcing the rise of Émile Roger Lombertie. In two years, could the transfer happen in the other direction? The union of the right, in recent times, has not always benefited the moderate parties…
Sebastien Dubois
Maps: Marie-Julie Achard
