An hour after the end of the vote, in the first office, that of the town hall, the counting of the ballots revealed a trend: Willy Nicollet (various right) finished in the lead with 154 votes, ahead of the RN of Christophe Gonzalez (142 votes), then the outgoing mayor, Sylvie Miceli-Houdais (various center, 78 ballots), followed closely by the unlabeled list of Maël Vala-Viaux and his 75 votes.
Then office No. 1 became the centralizing office. It immediately appeared that the outgoing mayor's list was in bad shape. Remember that last week, the final participation rate was 51.20% (47.15% in 2020 during the 1st and only round of municipal elections). Yesterday it was 52.07%.
At the end of last Sunday's vote, the four lists in a position to remain had made this choice. All the candidates, except Sylvie Miceli-Houdais, were in the hall of town hall (administrative center) waiting for the arrival of ballots from the nine other offices. But the tension rose a notch when Christophe Gonzalez's list invariably took the lead, roughly by a hundred votes.
Trend confirmed at 7:54 p.m. when, like last Sunday, the RN staff, Franck Allisio at the head, and the mayor of Marignane, Eric Le Dissès, with whom he founded the Rally for the Republic (RPR), stood up to proclaim the results. Even Daniel Simonpiéri, former FN mayor of Marignane was there.
Christophe Gonzalez was 152 votes ahead when he spoke, moved: “Our list came first in the municipal elections. The Rognacais elected a Rognacais, candidate of the National Rally and the RPR, they were not afraid despite the call for a micro-blockade. I will work with everyone. My family has been in Rognac for 130 years.“
Rognac thus becomes the first town in Bouches-du-Rhône to elect an RN and RPR mayor.
“A historic moment”
“This is a historic moment. I will do my best to give back to the people of Rognac what they gave me by electing me mayor. We are going to make a clean slate of what happened during this campaign which was sometimes borderline.”
For Franck Allisio, deputy for the 12th constituency (Marignane-Côte bleue) and departmental boss of the RN, this victory “is above all that of Rognac and the people of Rognac who have chosen honesty, serenity, order and hope. It is a historic victory because it has been 30 years since the RN last won a commune in the department. By-elections are known to be difficult. And, it’s close to my heart, the first municipal victory of the resurrected RPR. The future is being written here. We have 18 months to prove ourselves. It is the defeat of the Macronists Renaud Muselier and Martine Vassal who had supported our direct opponent (Willy Nicollet, Editor's note) who said he had no label and lied while we were sincere.“
And Franck Allisio, to emphasize “the dignified countryside“of the outgoing mayor. Sylvie Miceli-Houdais, who therefore lost her chair as mayor, proclaimed the final results after 8 p.m., assuring that she would go, whatever happens”do the job until the end“.
In the Nicollet clan, mines were at the height of disappointment.
Certainly, maintaining four lists did not make the task easier for those who called for a Republican barrier, but in light of the low participation rate, for a local election, it is clear that this strategy, in a town of 12,000 souls in any case, lived.
The results:
Christophe Gonzalez (RN and RPR): 38.24% (2036 votes)
Willy Nicollet (various right): 34.65% (1845 votes)
Sylvie Miceli Houdais, outgoing mayor (various center): 13.84% (737 votes)
Maël Vala Viaux (without label): 13.09% (697 votes)
The participation rate for this second round is 52.07%. It was 51.20% in the first round and 47.15% in 2020.
As a reminder, Christophe Gonzalez (RN, Retrouvons Rognac list) came first in the first round last Sunday, with 32.24% of the votes.
Willy Nicollet (various right, former deputy resigned, Rognac Autre list) took second position with 29% of the votes.
The outgoing mayor, Sylvie Miceli-Houdais (UDI, Let's write the future together list), was ranked in third place with 17.15% of the votes.
Finally, Maël Vala-Viaux (without label, United for Rognac list) was fourth with 14.61% of the votes.
