It's a failed comeback.
After a break from Barcelona for three years, Manuel Valls hoped to once again play the leading roles in French political life.
The voters of the Iberian Peninsula and Monaco decided otherwise: the former Prime Minister was sharply beaten this Sunday in the first round of the legislative elections in the 5th constituency of French people living abroad.
Invested by the presidential majority, the former socialist came third with 15% of the vote.
He is preceded by the candidate of Nupes, Renaud Le Berre, who came first
(32%) but also and above all by Stéphane Vojetta, the outgoing deputy and dissident candidate from LREM (25%).
"If dissidence and division have sown confusion, I cannot ignore my score and the fact that my candidacy has not convinced" reacted Sunday evening on Twitter Manuel Valls.
Dissident Vojetta: “My party made a mistake investing in it”
As significant as it is, this defeat that many saw coming in Spain is only a half surprise.
The candidacy of Manuel Valls was very badly received by LREM activists in Spain who saw in it only a parachuting in contradiction with the founding principles of the party.
“Manuel Valls has no local roots, he has never approached the members in Marche de l'Espagne.
His candidacy went against Macron's first promise, which was to renew the policy, "explains Gaëlle Legrand, support of Stéphane Vojetta.
Based in Madrid for 20 years, the man who killed the former deputy of Essonne has taken advantage of his close ties with the expatriate community.
“My score shows that French people living abroad want a rooted deputy, a local deputy.
I am proud to have maintained my candidacy and to have said no to a bad decision.
My party made a mistake by investing Manuel Valls ” reacted for the Parisian, the one who is now a favorite for the second round.
“I am now waiting for my political family to express their support for my candidacy as soon as possible.
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The defeat of Manuel Valls did not surprise either the winner of the first round, Renaud le Berre, candidate of Nupes, from Europe Ecologie les Verts.
“Voters don't want airdrops.
I also see that the further you get from Barcelona, the more his score improves.
It is indeed at home, in Barcelona, that Manuel Valls suffers the most, while he came first in Lisbon.
"Macron may have wanted to get rid of Valls"
A week before the first round of legislative elections in France, this defeat of Manuel Valls sounds like a warning for the presidential majority while Emmanuel Macron had personally approved the candidacy of the former mayor of Evry.
Some find it hard not to see a bad move from the president “Maybe Macron wanted to get rid of Valls.
It was risky to send him to Spain.
The majority should have known that he was very unpopular here,” analyzes a socialist expatriate in Barcelona.
If he immediately called to block the NUPES candidate in the second round, Manuel Valls remained enigmatic about his future.
“An election is a moment of truth.
It is up to me lucidly to draw the consequences.
Life is good enough to quietly turn the pages” Does the former Prime Minister intend to retire from political life?
Difficult to imagine it for the one who has often said that he cannot imagine his life without politics.
