Lack of public services, media coverage of fears, loss of bearings, rejection of the power in place… This is where the RN vote has its source. A largely predictable phenomenon, according to local elected officials who admit their powerlessness. “Voters don’t care about the face of their future MP. They want Bardella, that’s all.”
The north of Haute-Vienne. A rural land, economically depressed, long considered an object of curiosity… Barely ten years ago, it was here, in microscopic communes, that a strange phenomenon appeared: the FN vote. An enigma for observers of the time who have long tried to understand why, in this remote territory where “immigration” only existed on TV screens, the extreme right was so attractive.
An ink stain on blotting paper
Today, the phenomenon has spread across the map of Haute-Vienne like an ink stain on blotting paper. To the point of no longer surprising the diverse left-wing mayor of Bellac, where 40% of voters chose the RN on Sunday.
“It’s necessarily worrying,” admits Claude Peyronnet.
There is racism, we cannot deny that. But there is also a strong feeling of abandonment.
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For thirty years, the villages have seen all their public services disappear. In Bellac, we lost EDF, France Telecom, the Tax Office, the Departmental Directorate of Territories… 300 civil servant jobs that have not been replaced. The poverty rate has reached 24%.
In Haute-Vienne, the municipal elections are being played out behind the legislative elections: “If we withdraw, the RN will pass”
“It’s been brewing for a long time.”
In the south of the department, the far-right’s score does not surprise the PS mayor of Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche even more, even if the phenomenon is more recent there. Here, the RN is riding high at 38%. “It’s been brewing for a long time,” assures Daniel Boisserie, who also does not hide his helplessness. “We’ve been trying to prevent it for years, but all successive governments have remained deaf.”
The mayor of the Aredian city admits a hint of ambient xenophobia. But barely.
“People who vote RN are not all fascists. They are fed up with not being able to find a doctor or dentist and there is a strong feeling of rejection of Macronie. So they are trying what they have never tried. They don’t care about the face of their future MP. They want Bardella, that’s all.”
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“Covid has done a lot of harm”
This time in the west, in Oradour-sur-Glane, 40% of voters in the new town near the martyred city voted for the National Rally. Mayor Philippe Lacroix (non-party) seems resigned.
2024 Legislative Elections: Key figures from the first round in Haute-Vienne
“The two candidates from the Republican camp got 60%, which is rather reassuring. But our town has a lot of new residents and it can no longer escape the general context. It’s not just a problem of a lack of public services. There is also such over-mediatization of events that people end up being afraid of everything. And Covid has done a lot of harm. People have withdrawn into themselves and we can see the psychological traces of that today.”
“On Sunday, they only saw the flame on the ballot”
“Are our constituents so unhappy? I don’t think so,” admits Peggy Bariat, the mayor of Ambazac (left), where the RN captured 42% of the vote. “But the continuous news channels are all about PR,” continues the elected official. “Despite the free school supplies, the support we provide to associations, etc., we’re no match. On Sunday, people only saw the flame on the ballot paper, that’s all they were looking for. They don’t know the RN candidate. Some didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman…”
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“RN voters know very well who they are voting for”
Some elected officials do not hide their bitterness, like this mayor from the east of the department who wishes to remain anonymous so as, he says, “not to get too angry” with his constituents. “There is a real loss of bearings. People who vote RN may not be fascists, but they know very well who they are voting for. When you listen to them, they all have a black or Muslim friend. But when you hear jokes about charters in a polling station, you have the right to doubt…
Many RN voters have normal lives, jobs, children, a balance. But they consume politics like you buy yoghurts. They try a new brand to taste a new flavour, telling themselves that if they don’t like it, they can always throw it in the bin.
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The problem is that they don’t care what ingredients the yogurts were made with.”
Triangulars in Haute-Vienne? Unheard of since… 1932!
Florence Clavaud-Parant
