It is an election that is little talked about but that could shed light on the balance of political forces. On 24th September next nearly 3,000 grand electors in Yvelines (the figure is not yet precisely known) will go to the polls as part of the senatorial elections.
If the right appears to be the ultra-majority in the department, it will be instructive to follow the scores of secondary parties such as the National Rally (RN) which will present 8 candidates*. Its departmental delegate, Laurent Morin, explains his strategy and evokes the state of Marine Le Pen's party in the Yvelines.
The department is largely won over to the right. What do you hope for from the senatorial elections?
LAURENT MORIN: We had already submitted a list in 2017 and we are repeating this year. I will be at the top of the list. Anne Jacquemin (elected in Versailles) and Cyril Nauth (city councillor, who led Mantes-la-Ville from 2014 to 2020) will also be part of it. Everyone knows the difficulty of the work to be carried out in the Yvelines. In 2017, we had 81 votes and the threshold for an elected senator was 345 votes. With, to our credit, a majority in Mantes-la-Ville that we no longer have today. However, I believe that the current political context can be favourable to us. The grand electors have an opportunity to seize if they no longer want a Senate subject to Macronia, as we saw during the vote on the pension reform. My door is open to them and I call on them to seize this opportunity.
« My door is open to them"... One gets the impression that the RN is passive and has difficulty campaigning.
Of course I will go and campaign! But the grand electors will not be known until 9th June. In the 8th, 9th and 10th constituencies, we achieved interesting scores in the Bonnières-Freneuse sector, the Mauldre valley, Mézières, Épône, Flins-sur-Seine... It would be logical for the electors to play their role as relays, spokespersons for the aspirations of the inhabitants.
These same municipalities where you could have opportunities during the municipal elections of 2026. Are you already preparing for these elections?
No, not yet. But we will present more candidates than in 2014. Bonnières and Freneuse, where Marine Le Pen made nearly 50% in the presidential election, are interesting cities.
"CSP+ come knocking on our door"
In rural areas, however, you have no mayor despite good scores.
I feel this glass ceiling less and less. Even if the change of mentality is very long, there is an evolution. We have doubled the number of members in three years. We have a thousand of them today. Among them, there are young graduates, CSP + who come knocking at our door. Again, it is a lengthy process. Locally, elected representatives of other political parties are interested in us. For example, I was contacted by the mayor of a medium-sized city.
And in Mantes-la-Ville, will Cyril Nauth be a candidate?
On this point, it will be up to him to say so at the appropriate time. But we appear to be the only possible alternation. The left-wing opposition has fallen into oblivion...
Can Eric Zemmour and his Reconquest party take votes from you?
We will have a first response to the European elections of 2024. But Reconquest allowed the RN to show the French that we were responsible, credible, reliable and solid.
Some kind of useful idiot, so to speak?
I won't call them that. Rather, they have helped to strengthen us.
* Laurent Morin, Anne Jacquemin, Cyril Nauth, Emmanuelle Fortin, Pierre-Yves Pinchaux, Sophie Lelandais, Thomas du Chalard and Mathilde Androuët.
