“It feels good to vote for your convictions”, Viviane Rosso, PCF activist and municipal councilor of Rove, a village in the west of Marseilles which has continuously elected a communist mayor since 1947. While the voting operations are are performing at a good pace, one would almost worry, here, about too high a participation. “It’s not good for us when it votes too much,” announces Viviane, who hopes to see Fabien Roussel as high as possible in the town and, why not, exceed the 5% mark.
At the appointed time, a quick calculation of the four polling stations gives the turnout: 81.82% of the 4,131 registered voters in the village went to the polls, just less than in 2017 with 83.59% participation. . Then, the assessors and assessors attach themselves to the counting. The first bulletin, giving Emmanuel Macron, provokes a slight sigh, quickly erased by the second: Fabien Roussel. “Every week, we distributed 3,000 leaflets”, we invoke to hope that this has borne fruit.
As the counting progressed, two candidates returned to the vote, reading the ballots aloud more often than others: Marine Le Pen and Fabien Roussel. One with more pleasure than the other. Beyond the national ballot, the challenge here is “to keep the village on the left”, explains Olivier. Which seems to be the case. After the final results from two of the four offices, Roussel is behind Le Pen with one voice. 390 against 389. “Mélenchon is quite high too”, he observes, quite satisfied.
Proud to have voted for his candidate
But 8 p.m. comes, and dampens some hopes. Fabien Roussel is given at 2.7% nationally, Mélenchon at 20.1%, more than three points behind Le Pen, at 23.3%. “It’s a shame that the left is split,” notes an activist, tears in her eyes, horrified by the RN score. However, she does not regret her Roussel vote, like no one here. “It’s Mélenchon’s mistake”, explains George Rosso, the village mayor. “It’s always the same debate, and Mélenchon has already made us brown the last time. And then, the programs are not the same, on nuclear energy for example”, insists Olivier. “When you have an ally, you have to take care of it,” insists Paul.
The useful vote, among the militants present at the count, no one considered it. Unlike Alexis, who came to vote shortly after 6 p.m. “I voted for Mélenchon, because he has[vait] more luck, even if I feel closer to Roussel in my ideas,” confides this young man of just 18 years old. Once the results have been passed, the twenty or so Communists gathered in the village hall still have a drink, before sitting down to eat. Conversations are going well. “I imagined Roussel at least 3%”, regrets a lady. Everyone here still hopes for “better days”, but has regained the pride of having voted for their candidate, and the satisfaction of seeing their village still with a majority on the left.