On the phone, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, president (various left) of the Brittany region, said to himself “sounded”Sunday evening June 9. The results of the European elections leave no doubt. The National Rally (RN) won largely in all Breton departments with 25.59% of the votes. Unprecedented in this region known to be the most resistant to far-right ideas. “Brittany is not impervious to fears or democratic fatigue at work in the country. Many of our fellow citizens took advantage of this election which seems far away to them to express their fed up with less restraint than during a local election. whispers the city councilor. Loïg Chesnais-Girard is quick to highlight the “singularity” of the RN score, six points below the national average.
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Nevertheless, this result is a thunderbolt. A “earthquake”, savors Gilles Pennelle, director general of the RN and elected MEP. In 2013, he took over the regional federation of the party, which no one wanted. Making us forget his past proximity to the racialist far right, this former history teacher was able to bring the ideas of the RN into existence locally.
Long shameful, the nationalist vote is now assumed when leaving the polling stations. Sunday, in front of the town hall of Uzel (Côtes-d’Armor), a rural town of a thousand inhabitants, José and Suzanne Diaz, two retirees who have made careers in the Paris region, encourage ” to try ” the Bardella vote to protest against inflation. Maurice and Armelle Le Flohic, former employees in the agri-food industry, agree and want to put an end to the “lack of authority” of the State, this youth “who doesn’t want to work”this immigration which they are not confronted with, but which they fear.
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All around, traders, executives, students, agricultural workers abound and evoke a feeling of neglect in this rural Brittany where public services and businesses are closing. Responses to the agricultural crisis at the start of the year are considered insufficient. In Uzel, as in many surrounding rural areas, few talk about Europe, but many want a “undressed” to Emmanuel Macron, symbol of a hated political class. The RN vote no longer resonates as a warning, but as an expression of“a deep desire for change”.
Prefectures and medium-sized towns resist
In 2019, Jordan Bardella’s list gathered 17.31% of the votes, mainly in the Breton countryside. During the 2022 presidential election, Marine Le Pen made further progress with 19.53% of voters. From now on, the audience of the extreme right is growing even in peri-urban areas, although they are well served by public transport and well equipped with public facilities. Only prefectures and medium-sized towns are resisting the RN wave.
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