For RN MP Nicolas Meizonnet, “this election was difficult to lose…”

Nicolas Meizonnet analyse sa victoire. Midi Libre. – C.M

Le député sortant de la 2e circonscription a été réélu au premier tour avec 52,22% des voix. 

Nicolas Meizonnet sips a coke while the five other RN candidates for deputy are submitting their candidacy for the 2nd round at the Prefecture. For Nicolas Meizonnet, the approach has no reason to be: the second constituency, for which he has been a deputy since 2017, has just re-elected him with 52.22  % of votes from the first round.

A relative surprise: "It’was a credible hypothesis. In addition to the national wave, it was an election that seemed complicated to lose" believes the MP.

In the Camargue we have known how to surf the RN wave for a long time 

Especially since in the Camargue, we know how to ride the wave of the Front and then the National Rally. For a long time (we must remember the election of Charles de Chambrun in 1989 in Saint-Gilles). And higher than anywhere.

So when an almost unknown LR/RN candidate, in the fifth constituency – traditionally from the left – harvesting more than 41% of the votes, it was almost obvious that a child from the Vauverdois region, an outgoing deputy, won in the first round.

In the constituency, many municipalities gave him a majority in the first round: historic bastions, such as Saint-Gilles, which credited him with 56.43%   nbsp;; in Vauvert, his commune where he harvests 53.16% or even Aigues-Mortes, 55.11%. In Vestric-et-Candiac it’s almost a plebiscite: 65.76%. "In the Camargue, there is a deep attachment to an identity  cultural. Traditions that the Camargue feel threatened".  

A score which is increasing even in the former left-wing bastions

The MP notes that his score is increasing in the constituency, even in the former left-wing bastions, and even in the villages at the foothills of the Cévennes. "They are concerned by general issues which affect the entire national territory". 

In Grau-du-Roi, Nicolas Meizonnet also greatly increased his score. Mayor Robert Crauste doesn't really see it as a surprise: " In the second round of the presidential election, Marine Le Pen obtained 60%… And this is the third mandate that voters have granted to an RN deputy. This is the sign of an anchor in the constituency.

Meeting with Gilbert Collard

Nicolas Meizonnet remembers growing up in a family where we shared an interest in politics, but as spectators ;.It was following a meeting with Gilbert Collard in 2011 that Nicolas Meizonnet and his father Jean-Louis, a general practitioner well known in the commune, will join Marine Le Pen’s party. Jean-Louis Meizonnet, the father, is still today elected in opposition in the municipality of Jean Denat. Nicolas Meiezonnet, for his part, was first a part-time parliamentary attaché ("I had my job as a computer engineer") by Gilbert Collard in 2012. Then won the canton in the Départementales in 2015 by beating Jean Denat. A canton that he loses in 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020, he replaces Gilbert Collard, – elected European deputy in the National Assembly. He was then elected deputy for the 2nd constituency in 2022 against Yvan Lachaud.

Is the devil in Vauvert ? 

Katy Guyot, candidate of the New Popular Front and first deputy of Vauvert, spoke on the evening of her defeat of her deep concern about the situation: “Macron played with fire! To the sorcerer's apprentice! “

Is the devil in Vauvert ? In its approach of de-demonization, the RN perfectly masters its communication. Nicolas Meizonnet analyzes: “When you are in the opposition, to make your speech intelligible you sometimes have to be divisive. Today, we are at a time when we are able to propose an alternative. The discourse no longer has to divide but to unite.“

The MP says he does not endorse extreme discourse or the excesses of certain activists:”We need to reframe, channel. At the same time, we cannot always be in the right measure, as the daily life of those who express themselves in this way is difficult. It is the mark of exasperation”.

The MP also explains the increasingly perceptible porosity with certain voters of the traditional right by the demonstration of a certain  "respectability" acquired in the National Assembly. "People on the ground tell us: Ah, at least you don't mess up the assembly like Nupes…"