Legislative elections 2024: with four deputies from the Union of the Left, Montpellier remains faithful to its convictions

Michaël Delafosse partage sa joie avec Fatma Nakib, adjointe à la Ville de Montpellier, peu après les résultats. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

La forte mobilisation des électeurs montpelliérains a permis à trois députés de l'union de la gauche, plus Nathalie Oziol dimanche dernier,  à faire barrage aux candidats du Rassemblement national. 

After the worry, relief. It is a little after 9 p.m. at City Hall when Michaël Delafosse, surrounded by socialist elected officials, speaks. "You should never believe the polls" he attacks straight away, remembering his own experience, in 2020, to the municipal ones. The duels between the New Popular Front and the National Rally are almost all in favor of the union of the left a little over an hour after the closing of the polling stations in Montpellier this Sunday evening.

Duels favorable to the union of the left

The victory was won by his first assistant Fanny Dombre-Coste in 3rd. Her final score is clear: 58.29% against Lauriane Troise (41.71%). The ecologist Jean-Louis Roumégas on the 1st, who came in second position last Sunday with 40 votes behind against the RN Josyan Oliva, is in the process of catching up. He ultimately garnered 55.19% of the votes against the LR-RN candidate (44.81%). Results which make the chief magistrate say that the French "are viscerally attached to the Republic and the value of fraternity". Extremely close, the duel between the outgoing Sylvain Carrière and Cédric Delapierre ended in his favor: 50.33% against 49.67% in the 8th constituency. Neither the outgoing Sébastien Rome in the 4th nor the candidate of the Union of the Left Nadia Belaouni in the 9th manage to transform the attempt. No Montpellier office to save Rome. The weight of the far-right vote in Petite Camargue is not offset by voters in the south of Montpellier to push Belaouni.

The 2nd constituency won in the first round

With the election of Nathalie Oziol in the first round in the 2nd constituency, Montpellier remains a bastion of the left that is pushing the RN out of the city's borders. A result consistent with previous elections, from the European to the legislative and presidential elections. True to their convictions, the people of Montpellier turned out strongly with a turnout of around 60%. While it was a time of relief, there was no triumphalism. “We need to work to respond to the anger of the French, first and foremost of which is purchasing power”,”agreed Michaël Delafosse. The elected official stressed “the seriousness” of the moment. A feeling shared by Fanny Dombre-Coste, who is about to return to the benches of the National Assembly after a first term from 2012 to 2017. “This evening we are relieved, we are happy. But I feel very serious about this responsibility. Purchasing power will be an absolute priority.”

Strong voter turnout

All the elected officials of the Union of the Left welcome the mobilization of Montpellier residents to “block the National Rally”. The ecologist Coralie Mantion, former member of the municipal majority, also sees "the effect of hypermetropolisation to the detriment of neglected territories where the RN prospered. With four deputies from the Popular Front, Montpellier is a pocket that resists the brown wave". 

While the leader of the Insoumis is the first to speak at 8 p.m., local elected officials are convinced that the union of the left will resist the quarrels of&# 39;ego through "the values ​​she carries in common" and postpone the question until later. For Michaël Delafosse, that's all we've seen. While his name has been mentioned several times between two rounds to occupy this position, he prefers to remain "viscerally faithful to his commitments. I am mayor of Montpellier, I can be called upon to take on other functions, I will decline them." 

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