In the small town of Ailly-sur-Somme on this Wednesday, June 26 afternoon, the former journalist is not leaving for conquered territory. The town of 3,000 inhabitants, close to Amiens, voted 51% for Jordan Bardella on June 9. “The RN rose because of abstention in the working class,” regrets the free electron of the left, who has been campaigning for a long time to win back the rural and peri-urban working classes, “the France of the towns,” which have gone to the extreme RIGHT.
With a tanned complexion, a sign of the hours spent outside distributing leaflets, the 48-year-old outgoing MP tries to spread the good word in these workers’ houses often inhabited by retirees, former employees in textile or agri-food factories, which closed a year ago. several years ago.
« Miracle ». “Usually I have months to campaign, I plow, I sow and I harvest at the polls,” sighs François Ruffin, who once again wants to outwit the “mathematics” and reproduce the “miracle” of his elections. 2017 and 2022 in the National Assembly.
In the last legislative elections, 61% of voters had trusted him. On June 9, the extreme right won 44% in his constituency, compared to 26% for the cumulative scores of the left.
In front of a slightly more opulent gate, Patrice, a 62-year-old wine merchant, recognizes and greets his deputy. He has voted for him in the past but will slip another ballot into the ballot box this time. The reason is simple: Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “There would only be you, yes, but Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not okay… Before I liked him, he has qualities, he is a very good speaker. But now he’s slipping, he’s getting on my nerves,” explains Patrice.
A bit embarrassed at having to display his disagreements with the founder of LFI in the presence of a journalist, François Ruffin tries to argue. “You saw that I distanced myself from him. I don’t have a boss,” he pleads, referring his interlocutor to the numerous recent articles on the divorce between the two men.
“Decency”. But for Patrice, nothing helps, the left-wing deputy has not sufficiently freed himself from the man with 22% in the last presidential election. Even if François Ruffin is running this time under the label of his micro-party Picardie Debout, and not under the LFI label. Similar remarks a few meters further, in a block of buildings.
“I can’t take it anymore with rebellious France,” warns Dolorès, a secretary at the Red Cross. “You have distanced yourself from Mr. Mélenchon, that’s very good,” notes this left-wing voter who voted for Raphaël Glucksmann in the European elections and will slip a Ruffin ballot into the ballot box on Sunday.
“This is an observation that people make to me regularly,” comments the man who was once seen as a potential successor to Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the head of the radical left. On the other hand, faced with an extreme right which is on the rise, François Ruffin intends to defend the “left of decency and common sense” and not present a “snarling or snarling” profile.
” In strength “. After the door-to-door campaign, the director of “Merci Patron!” » heads to the neighboring town of Picquigny. There, he takes the lead in a stroll: several dozen activists, equipped with a sound system, flutes and tambourines cross the village behind a van covered with a giant balloon “With François Ruffin”. “We are showing that the left is occupying the ground, that we are there in force,” explains the person concerned, while a defeat in the legislative elections could darken his presidential ambitions in 2027.
Amused, the inhabitants of a suburban area poke their heads out of the window and collect a leaflet from their candidate. But not everyone is necessarily receptive. On his doorstep, Pascal, a former member of the CGT, says he no longer wants to hear from the left. When Goodyear closed its Amiens factory, he found himself unemployed and, at the age of over 50, had to begin retraining to work in construction. His wife Cathy worked for Whirlpool, another large factory whose closure plunged the region into a social crisis. For the couple, the choice is made. Sunday, they will vote RN.
Léo MOUREN
© Agence France-Presse
