Here is an election night that will have kept a promise: that of the traditional surprises that we hardly ever see coming. The regional elections in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Paca) already had everything political powder keg. And the first round of voting did not make it possible to see much more clearly. First surprise, an unexpected neck and neck between the outgoing president (LR), Renaud Muselier, and the RN candidate, Thierry Mariani: 32.5% against 35.9%, while the polls gave the candidate of Marine Le Pen to ten steps ahead. And the third man, Jean-Laurent Félizia (EELV), who obtains 15.9% of the vote, ultimately refuses to withdraw, contrary to what he had suggested in recent days. The in-between turns promises to be explosive.
Earlier in the evening, it was a start of euphoria that first seized Camp Muselier and the few militants present at its Marseille headquarters, in the Joliette district. The former Chiraquian minister was given in the polls more than ten points behind the candidate of the National Rally. And therefore in a very bad position to hope to conserve the region. After 8 pm, they have the impression of finding a little air. Renaud Muselier will make an express appearance at his campaign HQ. Arrived under the clamors around 8:45 pm. The outgoing president is content with a very short speech.
"I never believed that such a region could give such scores to the extreme right", loose a serious Muzzle, congratulating himself for having "foiled all the polls".
And qualifying the RN and its direct opponent, without ever naming them, as a "block of hatred and cowardice" that should not be missed.
"We are going to remain faithful to our logic of gathering, and I call on everyone to take their responsibilities vis-à-vis the far right", continues Muselier.
Translation: we understand that he will keep a priori the same list as in the first round, and calls on his competitors - environmentalists Jean-Marc Governatori (5.4%) and Jean-Laurent Félizia (15.9%) - to be withdraw.
VIDEO.
"Everything depends on you": Thierry Mariani calls on his voters to come to the second round
At this time of the evening, there is still doubt about Félizia's intentions, whose statements in recent days clearly left us to think that he would not go to the second round of this high-tension match. The environmentalist is long overdue, and we guess that on the right, we are biting our nails.
It was then that Thierry Mariani took the floor. It is 9.45pm in Pontet, a town run by the RN, where he has set up his HQ. A few dozen activists made the trip. Mariani knows it, he suffered like the other RN candidates from a strong abstention. "If again you are not going to vote on Sunday, then we will continue with the same ones, then it will be the candidate of power, the candidate of Emmanuel Macron who will be elected, tances Mariani behind his desk. Do you want our region to be the only, I mean the only region of France to offer a victory to Emmanuel Macron? ". At the RN, we were hoping for a more festive evening ... but the executives are trying to change things. “We are in the lead, less than expected because of the abstention, but Muselier is behind us, tempers Franck Allisio, head of the RN of Bouches-du-Rhône.With normal participation, the pollsters would have been right. Our voters must mobilize next Sunday ”.
Read alsoRegional elections 2021, first round: discover the results in your municipality
A few minutes after Mariani's speech, Jean-Laurent Félizia grabs his microphone from his room in downtown Marseille.
And offers its second twist on election night.
"We had a collective debate and we decided, if the final results confirm the trends, to maintain the voice of the left", balances the candidate, estimating that "the citizens of the left expect something other than the erasure of their ideas ".
The ecologist made a calculation: he believes that Renaud Muselier has, in fact, the reserve of votes necessary to beat Mariani, without appealing to the traditional republican front.
A calculation that appears risky.
This will require Muselier to capture a large part of the 5.4% collected by Governatori.
Liberal ecologist, the latter said he was ready to top with Muselier.
Félizia also probably anticipates that some of her own voters might prefer to vote useful to prevent a victory for the RN… while still allowing her to be represented in the regional assembly.
Yesterday evening, Olivier Faure, the First Secretary of the PS, called "solemnly" for the withdrawal from the list of union of the left.
"I do not have to answer @faureolivier. The Parisian staffs are sometimes disconnected from the reality on the ground. It is a collective decision that we assume" # Felizia2021 # regionales2021
- Jean-Laurent Félizia (@FeliziaJean) June 20, 2021
Long before knowing what Félizia would do, Renaud Muselier had already planned to make big appeals to the environmentalist electorate. A visit is in fact scheduled this Monday morning on the side of the Berre pond, near Marignane, a symbolic place of environmental fights. The idea is to show these voters that "Muselier will be fair and respect the electorate of the left" if he votes for him in the second round next Sunday, confided his entourage. His direct opponent, Thierry Mariani, will be in the Old Port of Marseille, with his head of departmental lists, before joining Toulon (Var) in the afternoon for a meeting with professionals from the sea. launch a last week of campaign in troubled waters.
