In Lyon suburbs, challenge of participation in legislative elections

If Jean-Luc Mélenchon aroused a revival of mobilization in the working-class neighborhoods during the presidential election, the participation fell down Sunday.

by

“Will the Mélenchon effect” reproduce and have an influence on the legislative elections in the Lyon suburbs? “I will give my voice to someone, in the logic of the presidential election,” says Rodrigue Barde, 36, coming out of the right morning from the polling station installed in the canteen of the Louis-Pergaud school, in the district Minguettes, in Vénissieux. The bus driver does not hide his preference for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. His voting in the legislative elections is directly linked to the breakthrough of the leader of rebellious France (LFI) in working -class neighborhoods.

In this 14 e district of the Rhône, few voters met in the morning of Sunday June 12 retained the name of the eleven candidates at the deputy headquarters. The choices are often guided by the great currents of the presidential election. Like that of Isabelle Sébastien, 77, who has never missed an election in forty-seven years of civic life. “When we see what is happening in countries where free elections do not exist, we do not have the right not to vote,” says the former school kitchen employee, originally from Martinique.

Further, in the Léo-Lagrange school office, Djamila Abderrahmane, 48, also made her choice “in the rest of the presidential election”. But his neighbors decided not to come and vote this time, unlike the first round which placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the top of the presidential election, with the spectacular score of 48.79 % of the votes, in Vénissieux, against 17.97 % to Emmanuel Macron. At noon, the rate of participation in the legislative elections was limited to 11.80 % in Vénissieux, as in Vaulx-en-Velin, where the rate drops from a point compared to 2017 at the same time (12.97 %). Participation is more strongly declining in the districts most distant from city centers. In Lyon, the participation rate rose to 20.89 %. If the trend is confirmed at the end of the day, the decline in the vote in the working -class neighborhoods could compromise “the Mélenchon effect”.

the spectacular scores of LFI to the presidential election

On April 10, 2022, the candidacy of the leader of LFI undoubtedly mobilized the electorate in the peripheral districts of the second metropolis of France. Systematically improving his 2017 score, Mr. Mélenchon came at the top of the first round of the presidential election in most major cities in the east of the capital of Gaul, largely ahead of Emmanuel Macron. With spectacular scores in Vaulx-en-Velin (54.94 % against 17.28 % to Mr. Macron), Givors (44.89 % against 20.13 % in Marine Le Pen, and 16.23 % to M. Macron). Further reduced, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s advance still asserted himself in Saint-Priest, Rillieux-la-Pape or Bron, cities led by mayors Les Républicains (LR).

You have 54.5% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.