At the “Le Piccolo” snack bar, the tables remain sparse the day after the first (and only) round of the 2024 legislative elections, in the 8th constituency of Var.
Journal Var-matin In her hands, Marie-France Peix leads the debate with a strong voice, reviewing the results commune by commune: “Did you see that, in Bourguet, they voted 69.23% [pour Philippe Schreck (RN)] !”chokes this 82-year-old regular. Her finger stops on the only town in the constituency – the “confetti rouge” – having voted in majority for the New Popular Front (NFP), instead of the National Rally (RN). His: Trigance.
Sarah Breffy (Place publique) – who symbolically started her campaign in this “bastion of the left” – collected 54% of the votes, against 26% for the RN.
“Trigance has always voted left”
However, this Trigançois specificity does not encourage tongues to be loosened. Several residents refuse to express themselves on the nature of their vote, or to comment on local politics: “Everyone knows each other here. Talking politics is not good, especially when you own a business.”we justify. “Everyone does what they want”others decide.
Still, for some, this resistance to the RN wave remains a “pride” to be claimed. “We are the irreducible Gauls,” illustrates Michelle, who confides having slipped an NFP ballot into the ballot box. An almost Pavlovian reflex? “Trigance has, in any case, always voted left,” assures Marie-France. Almost true.
In 2012, the socialists already crushed the competition with 81.69% of the votes; France Insoumise, meanwhile, won 56.91% of the votes in 2022, only beaten the day after the presidential elections in 2017, when La République en Marche (REM) benefited from Emmanuel Macron’s state of grace, with 85% of the votes collected against the RN.
An RN that is rising, despite everything
How can we explain this counter-current success? “We look after each other, there has always been a bond between the people of Trigançois: sharing, cohabitation”, tries Luc Bastiani, municipal councillor, assessor and baker of the village.
But even in the heart of the last remaining left-wing commune – where the number of Socialist Party (PS) members has reportedly “collapsed” – the RN has not had its last word: “They obtained 40 ballots, whereas before the figure was limited to a dozen or so”, admits Gilbert Suzan, delegate for culture.
“Protest votes, nothing more,” Nicolas, a town hall employee, convinces himself. But the fear is there: “I am a child of the Second World War, I know what happened. And today, it scares me,” worries Marie-France.
For these legislative elections, the Trigançois seem to have, in the end, opted more for an ideology than for Sarah Breffy: “Even if she speaks well, she does not know the Haut-Var, and no one really knows this candidate either”, regrets Gilbert Suzan.
