Contacted by “CheckNews”, Ensemble MP Patrick Vignal denies his comments reported by “Midi Libre”. The journalist, however, maintains his version.
Did the President of the Republic personally call an Ensemble candidate, who came third on the evening of the first round of the legislative elections – in a three-way race where the RN is in the lead – to ask him to stay in the second round? At the risk of making the far right win? This is what the outgoing Renaissance MP for Hérault, Patrick Vignal, stated in the Free Midi This morning.
With 25% of the vote, the man finished in third position on Sunday, in the 9th constituency of Hérault, behind the NFP candidate Nadia Belaouni (29.3%), and especially the RN Charles Alloncle (36.5%). When asked by our colleagues if he was still “possible to reverse the trend”the former MP responds: “I have received many calls since Sunday evening, including from the President of the Republic, asking me not to abdicate, messages telling me that victory was possible. But we must be clear-headed, with a 2,500-vote difference, and in this context of anti-Macron disengagement, the match is over, it is the game of democracy. It is therefore normal that I put down my suit and tie.”
“I got my brushes tangled”
Contacted by CheckNewsPatrick Vignal is now backtracking: “It’s my fault, I got myself tangled up: the President of the Republic never asked me to stay.” And to add: “He texted me in the night asking what I was doing, and I texted him back in the early morning, when I saw his message, that I was backing out.” Vignal states: “I have freedom of speech and I have not received any particular pressure.”
Contacted immediately afterwards, the journalist who wrote the interview, Ludovic Trabuchet, nevertheless maintained his version: “He hadn’t slept much and was probably tired, but he told me that he had spoken to Macron and that Macron had told him to hold on.” And to add: “He may have gotten a slap on the wrist.”
Asked whether Emmanuel Macron was asking certain Ensemble candidates to remain within the three-way framework in which the RN is in the lead, the Elysée had not responded to us at the time of going to press.
