After an electoral campaign lasting less than three weeks, the French are called to the polls this Sunday, June 30 to elect the 577 deputies for these early legislative elections. A historic day when the far right could come out on top in the elections.
Towards a record participation?
As predicted by pollsters, the turnout at the end of the day could reach a record, around 64% for the first round. It could even exceed the 67.9% of the last legislative election following a dissolution in 1997. A score that should in cases exceed that of the last legislative elections of 2022 (47.51%).
A dynamic that seems to be confirmed since at midday, participation in metropolitan France rose to 25.90%, a sharp increase compared to the 18.43% of the first round of the 2022 legislative elections. “This is the highest level since the 1981 legislative elections”, notes on X Mathieu Gallard, director of studies at the Ipsos polling institute.
Proof of this enthusiasm, more than 2.7 million proxies have been established since June 10, according to the Ministry of the Interior, a number four times higher than that of two years ago.
First results overseas
Overseas, where people vote much less than in mainland France, participation has also increased and initial results have been published.
In Guyana, the two outgoing deputies invested by the New Popular Front in the two constituencies of Guyana, Jean-Victor Castor and Davy Rimane, came out on top with 62.78% of the votes in the first and 60.21% in the second, without however managing to reach the 25% of registered voters to win in the first round.
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Facing them, two candidates without a label, Boris Chong Sit and Sophie Charles, come far behind with respectively 16.11% and 25.49% of the votes. The participation rate rose to 32.5% compared to 26.7% in 2022.
According to the provisional results communicated by the prefecture of Guadeloupe, the RN did not place any candidate in the lead in the four constituencies of Guadeloupe.
But two of its candidates, Laurent Petit and Rody Tolassy, are qualified for the second round in the 2nd and 3rd constituencies, with respectively 17.30% and 25.90% of the votes, far behind the two outgoing deputies of the New Christian Popular Front Baptiste (41.33%) and Liot Max Mathiasin (36.21%).
In the 1st and 4th constituency, the second round will pit two outgoing deputies, respectively Olivier Serva (Liot) and a socialist candidate invested by the New Popular Front, Elie Califer, against an LFI candidate, Chantal Lérus, and a candidate from the presidential majority, Jennifer Linon. The participation rate is up sharply with 33.56% compared to 25.31% during the previous election in 2022.
Blitz campaign
Many political figures went to the polls in the morning.
Emmanuel Macron voted in Le Touquet (Pas-de-Calais), allowing himself, as usual, a long walkabout with selfies and hugs. Marine Le Pen in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), Jordan Bardella in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine), the former socialist head of state François Hollande in Tulle (Corrèze). Gabriel Attal, who voted in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine), will make a statement at the headquarters of the presidential Renaissance party after 8 p.m., according to his entourage.
In Nice, this voting day began in a tense atmosphere. An assessor appointed by Eric Ciotti attacked the president of his polling station on Sunday in the center of Nice, a gesture condemned by the president of the Republicans who allied himself with the National Rally.
The public prosecutor’s office confirmed the opening of a preliminary investigation for “violence against a person entrusted with a public service mission and insults against police officers.” The incident occurred around 8:00 a.m., when the assessor, considering that all the obligations of the electoral code were not respected, tried to prevent the opening of the polling station According to the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi (Horizons), great rival of Mr. Ciotti, the assessor struck the. president of the office before being arrested by the police.
Mr Ciotti’s campaign team spoke rather of a “scramble” but immediately gave its support to the president of the office and distanced itself from the assessor, a veteran who had already held this role many times, considering that the possible irregularities he had mentioned were not worth a delay in opening the office and especially that his reaction was unacceptable.
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“This is a totally inappropriate attitude that I totally condemn,” Mr. Ciotti told reporters late in the morning, after voting in a nearby polling station. “This is naturally individual behavior that has absolutely no place in a major democratic event that should be peaceful and serene.”
The French can go to the polls until 6:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. in the major cities, at which time the first results of these elections likely to shake up the political landscape will emerge. In these opinion polls, to be taken with caution, the Le Pen party was ahead of the left-wing alliance of the New Popular Front, given between 27.5 and 29%, and the presidential camp, relegated to around 20 to 21% of voting intentions.
If Jordan Bardella were to enter Matignon, it would be the first time since the Second World War that a government from the extreme right would lead France.
