Jérôme Cahuzac, legislative, Gabriel Attal… The political moments of Lot-et-Garonne in 2024

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Political news is inevitably a marker for the year 2024, with the great success of the RN in the European elections, the early legislative elections and the arrival of several personalities in Lot-et-Garonne.

Marine Tondelier reunites with Serge Bousquet-Cassagne

Since March 2023, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologists, and Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lot-et-Garonne, have been opposed in legal proceedings following the eventful passage of the boss of the Greens in the Lot -et-Garonne. She had filed a complaint for “obstruction of traffic”. Less than a year after this episode, the two personalities met again at the Agricultural Show on February 29. A “cordial” exchange then takes place between them, without mentioning the current procedure. However, the co-founder of CR47 does not fail to express “all the evil that[il] thought of them, but sympathetically. Marine Tondelier even takes a selfie, yellow Rural Coordination cap on her head, with Lot-et-Garonnais farmers.

Gabriel Attal takes a walkabout in Camelat

The Camelat bridge, northwest of Agen, was inaugurated on May 4. Gabriel Attal traveled to participate in the ceremony, after meeting the agricultural unions at the prefecture. This arrival takes place against the backdrop of European elections, in a department where two out of three deputies are labeled National Rally, a party well ahead in voting intentions. The Prime Minister took advantage of a crowd bath and took selfies with the 5,000 people who came despite the rain. Jean Dionis du Séjour, during a 20-minute speech, announced for his part that a railway bridge should see the light of day in 10 years and allow “the connection between the Brax-Roquefort LGV station and the city center station of Agen.”

The success of the RN in the Europeans

The results of the European elections on June 9 see the National Rally coming first in Lot-et-Garonne with 38.62%. At the department level, the list led by Jordan Bardella and that of Marion Maréchal (5.70%) achieve a score above their national average (respectively 31.37 and 5.47%), unlike the other main gone. Lot-et-Garonne is one of three French departments, along with Mayotte and the Territoire de Belfort, where the far-right party comes in first place in all municipalities, sometimes reaching more than 50%. Only Boussès, the smallest village in 47, saw Raphaël Glucksmann's list obtain the same score as that of the RN with 11 votes each.

Jérôme Cahuzac makes his return

After the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, Jérôme Cahuzac made his political comeback. The former Minister Delegate for the Budget from 2012 to 2013 believes he has “purged his debt”, eight years after being convicted of “tax fraud” and “tax fraud laundering”. He is running for the legislative elections in the 3rd constituency of Lot-et-Garonne, just a few minutes after the President of the Republic's announcement. The former mayor of Villeneuve-sur-Lot is running without a label, not wishing to appear under the banner of the New Popular Front. At the end of an intense campaign, Jérôme Cahuzac collected 14.56% and qualified for the second round. But he withdrew in favor of Guillaume Lepers to face the National Rally and its candidate Annick Cousin.

The early legislative race

Between the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9 and the results of the second round on July 7, the legislative campaign is intense in an attempt to succeed the outgoing Lot-et-Garonnais deputies (Michel Lauzzana in the 1st constituency, Hélène Laporte on the 2nd and Annick Cousin on the 3rd). On June 30, after the results of the first round, the three National Rally candidates came out on top. But only Hélène Laporte was re-elected in the second round, Sébastien Delbosq and Annick Cousin having paid the price for the withdrawal of other candidates who came beyond third place to block the far-right party. Michel Lauzzana (Together!) is seeking a third term, while Guillaume Lepers (various right) is discovering the National Assembly.

Guillaume Lepers and his first steps in the Assembly

Arriving in second place on the evening of the first round of the legislative elections with half as many votes as Annick Cousin, Guillaume Lepers defied the predictions by being elected deputy for the 3rd constituency of Lot-et-Garonne with 54.13%. He says he is “happy and surprised by the scale of the results”, and collects 60% in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, a town of which he has been mayor since 2020. The only deputy in France to hold this local office, he leaves his place to his deputy Gérard Régnier and took his first steps at the Palais Bourbon. Member of the Republicans, Guillaume Lepers refuses to sit alongside party president Éric Ciotti after his alliance with the National Rally. He therefore joins Laurent Wauquiez within the group “The Republican Right”.

Jordan Bardella's visit to Tonneins

A time imagined in Marmande (where the socialist mayor Joël Hocquelet had refused) then in Agen (financially impossible for the convention center in large configuration, i.e. 4,000 places), it was finally in Tonneins that Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, is organizing a meeting on November 10. He is welcomed by 2,000 supporters in a packed hall in La Manoque, but also party figures from Lot-et-Garonne and the surrounding departments: Hélène Laporte, Edwige Diaz (deputy for the 11th constituency of Gironde) and Nadine Lechon (1st district of Dordogne). A few hours earlier, the MEP visited a farm in Virazeil. A rally organized by an anti-racist collective was held the same day in Tonneins, in parallel with the meeting.

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