“Beaten but not defeated” : Fabien Roussel always has a way with words. Even when announcing his defeat, Sunday June 30, early in the evening. During the legislative elections, the national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF) was eliminated in the first round by the candidate of the National Rally (RN), Guillaume Florquin. The latter, a protégé of Sébastien Chenu, won, with 50.3% of the vote, in the 20e Northern constituency, while Mr. Roussel only totaled 31.2%.
In these lands of Valenciennois, it is a small political earthquake, as Saint-Amand-les-Eaux and its surroundings symbolised what remained of the northern strongholds of the PCF. It is also a hard blow for the leader of a party that is fighting for its survival.
As if he had sensed it, during this three-week express campaign, the outgoing communist deputy appeared tired and worried. He knew the RN was conquering for several elections in the former mining basin and the rural towns of the constituency. The 20e du Nord is one of those that had seen the highest scores for the far right during the 2022 legislative elections, and the PCF’s number one had already had to fight to keep it. The European elections on June 9 confirmed the Le Penist surge, with Jordan Bardella’s list at 37.3% of the votes at the department level.
“We hit a tsunami”
At the party headquarters, Place du Colonel-Fabien, there was no hiding their strong disappointment on Sunday at this brutal elimination. “It’s a symbol that hurts, but we knew that it was going to be very hard: all the neighboring circos were already RN, and the result is in line with the dynamics of the Europeansrecognizes Ian Brossat, senator of Paris and close to the national secretary. We’ve had a tsunami which means that in the North, apart from Lille, I don’t know how many constituencies the left will keep. »
Fabien Roussel nevertheless had a strong presence in this communist bastion, which had seen PCF deputies elected continuously since 1962. Having spent part of his career in the footsteps of Alain Bocquet, mayor of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux , who left him the seat at the Palais-Bourbon in 2017, the elected official, also a municipal councilor, was working on establishing himself in this popular constituency. Mr. Roussel made a point of representing employees from small, impoverished and rural towns.
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This positioning had notably encouraged him to support the “yellow vest” movement and had inspired his polemical tirades. To mark his difference, he launched, during the 2022 presidential campaign: “I am not the representative of the caviar and quinoa left, but of the popular and red label left.” A way to stand out from the strategy of La France insoumise (LFI), targeting large cities and popular suburbs.
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