The outgoing deputy Nupes/LFI of the first constituency from Ariège, Bénédicte Taurine, arrived this Sunday evening at the head of the first round of the partial legislative with 31.18% of the votes. She is ahead of the dissident socialist candidate, Martine Froger (26.42%) and the candidate of the National Rally Jean-Marc Garnier, who obtains 24.78% of the votes and comes third, and will therefore not be present in the second round.
Unlike the 2022 ballot where she had qualified, Anne-Sophie Tribout, the candidate for the presidential majority, collapses with only 10.69%.
Last January, the election of Bénédicte Taurine was canceled by the Constitutional Council. The highest French court had taken this decision due to anomalies recorded during the first round of 2022. In some offices, ballots from the RN candidates of the 1st and 2nd constituencies had been exchanged. The candidate of Marine Le Pen’s party, Jean-Marc Garnier, was thus unable to count the 136 ballots in the name of his RN colleague from the 2nd district. However, the latter had come third, with 8 votes less than the second qualified, the Macronist candidate.
Finally it will be a duel between the rebellious candidate, officially invested by Nupes, and the socialist dissident, supported by Carole Delga, but also Anne Hildago, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol or Bernard Cazeneuve. What create tensions internally at the level of the socialist party, Olivier Faure having repeatedly tackled those who did not play collectively with Nupes. The First Secretary of the PS had himself supported the candidacy of Bénédicte Taurine.
Renaissance calls to vote for the dissident PS
The interval between rounds is likely to be very tense because it is indeed the dissident candidate who pulls out of the game by improving her score by more than 8% compared to last year. When Bénédicte Taurine, despite the social context and the support of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came to a meeting, lost votes in a year. Will Martine Froger capitalize on the votes of the Macronist candidate?
His party, Renaissance, in any case immediately called for a vote “unambiguously for the socialist candidate Martine Froger”.
The two will certainly also seek the votes of the abstainers (60%), in this bastion anchored on the left, whatever the case.