Everything accelerated on Friday June 14, 2024, to be finalized with an announcement to The mountain the next day, around 10 a.m., over coffee in a bar in Tulle (Corrèze).
The day after the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, the name of François Hollande was circulating as a possible candidate in the Tulle-Ussel constituency, as one would be tempted to say before each election.
The national agreement of the union of the left having awarded the first constituency to the PS, two socialists applied: the regional councilor and municipal councilor of Tulle, Pascal Cavitte, and the mayor of Meymac and president of the Association of the rural mayors of Corrèze, Philippe Brugère.
The “no” of Bernard Combes
As for the mayor of Tulle (various left), Bernard Combes, he thought about it. “The constituency was reserved for the PS,” he confided. “The National Council of the PS gave my name and I said no.”
The mayor of Tulle affirms that “wanting to remain mayor of the city (which is incompatible with a mandate as a deputy, Editor’s note) played a role in more than half of the decision” and that “in view of the situation, a force was needed superior, that of François Hollande.”
The decision of the former President of the Republic, who indicates that he had been asked a lot by local elected officials to get involved, was taken on Friday June 14, 2024.
No internal vote
There was therefore no vote between the two candidates for candidacy Pascal Cavitte and Philippe Brugère. they withdrew their offer and lined up behind François Hollande. “For a crisis situation, we needed an extraordinary candidate…”, believes Pascal Cavitte.
Philippe Brugère, who is François Hollande’s deputy, even indicates that he “hoped that it would be him. I was a candidate by default. We needed the aura of the president, his combat experience, his values “We needed moral authority. François Hollande is the one we need to win.”
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Estelle Bardelot
