Third, fourth, or further behind. In most major cities, the La République en Marche (LREM) party appeared marginalized on the evening of the first round of municipal and inter-municipal elections, its first local election, on March 15. In Paris, Lille, Grenoble, Nantes and Besançon, the Marchers qualified for the second round on June 28 nevertheless decided to set off on their own in the countryside.
Others preferred to withdraw their list or have it merged with another application. Preferring to favor, in most cases, a right list. An imbalance already observed before the first round: among the candidates invested or supported by LREM in cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, 23% came from the right and 16% from the left, according to the count of "Fig Data".
Read also: ANALYSIS - Municipal elections, a halt to LREM
In Lyon, Perpignan and Rouen, withdrawals in favor of the right
“Anti-Greens” dam in Lyon, “Republican front” in Perpignan, hand extended to right and center lists in Rouen: in these three municipalities, the LREM list leaders abandon their campaign in favor of a right candidate .
The biggest political earthquake sounded in the metropolitan area of Lyon , where Gérard Collomb (16.5% in the first round) ended seventeen years at the head of the town hall to favor the candidate (Les Républicains, LR) François-Noël Buffet (17.65%). And avoid the election of Bruno Bernard (Europe Ecology-The Greens, EELV, 22.55%) to the presidency of the very powerful metropolis. In exchange, in view of the ballot for the town hall, the right withdrew its candidate Étienne Blanc, in favor of the ex-gymnast Yann Cucherat (LREM), colt of Gérard Collomb.
Read also: Lyon: Gérard Collomb joins forces with LR and hands him the head of the list for the metropolitan election
In Perpignan , a logic of "republican front" prevailed. The Roman Walker Grau (13.17%) withdrew - as did the EELV candidate Agnès Langevine (14.51%) - in order to allow the election of the outgoing LR mayor Jean-Marc Pujol (18.43%), rather than that of Louis Aliot (RN, 35.55%). Another situation in Rouen : arrived third behind the left and the environmentalists, who merged, the candidate Jean-Louis Louvel (16.78%), supported by both LREM and LR, threw in the towel. Calling the candidate (various right) Jean-François Bures (10.16%) to open his list to his running mate.
In Bordeaux, Colombes and Levallois-Perret, mergers with the right
Even more ambitious, some Marchers went so far as to merge their list with the right, in the hope of governing the city. Such a coalition has emerged in Bordeaux , where the LREM candidate Thomas Cazenave (12.69% in the first round) rallied to the successor of Alain Juppé at the head of the city, the outgoing mayor (LR) Nicolas Florian (34.55%). An attempt to prevent the left, led by the ecologist Pierre Hurmic (34.38%), from robbing the town hall on the right, at the head of the Town Hall since 1947.
Read also: Municipal in Bordeaux: the candidate LREM Cazenave joins the list of outgoing mayor LR Florian
In the Hauts-de-Seine, two cities are also the scene of such alliances. In Colombes , outgoing LR mayor Nicole Goueta (34.20%) decided to unite with her ex-assistant Sébastien Perrotel (LREM-UDI-MoDem, 21.6%) in the face of a strong environmental push (30.1 %). In Levallois-Perret , the Marcher Maud Bregeon (15.03%) allied with the historical opponent (various right) of the Balkany, Arnaud de Courson (20.79%), in the hope of defeating the candidate LR Agnes Pottier-Dumas (34.6%).
These rapprochements make the mergers of LREM candidates with the left, observed in Nîmes or Auxerre, a minority. Two exceptional-looking cities on the map of France of macronist alliances for municipalities.
