Perpignan (AFP)

For the first time since Toulon in 1995, a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants could come under RN control: with 35.6% in the first round, Louis Aliot is in a strong position in Perpignan against the outgoing LR mayor.

But in the "new context" of the coronavirus pandemic, "I don't see how a second round could take place," said Mr. Aliot, 50, when Marine Le Pen, his ex-partner, had just asked the postponement of the poll of March 22.

For the outgoing mayor Jean-Marc Pujol "the necessary serenity and tranquility" are not met either for the holding of the second round next Sunday.

At the head of an unlabeled list, to spare the running mongers from other mobilities, the deputy RN of the Pyrénées-Orientales confirms what the polls had predicted for months.

Compared to the 2014 election (34% in the first round) which he had lost in the second round, Louis Aliot only improved his mark by 1 point, but his lead over the outgoing mayor increased by 4 points in 2014 , at 5 Sunday.

At the end of the count, Jean-Marc Pujol won only 18.43% of the vote, a rare occurrence for an outgoing mayor. Mayor since 2009, this 70-year-old pied-noir is seeking a third term.

"The severe disavowal of the outgoing mayor, and the very modest score of my opponents, demonstrate that Perpignan needs change, and even a big change," said Louis Aliot, from his campaign office.

- From duel to quadrangular -

The ecologist Agnès Langevine, with 14.5%, and the deputy LREM Romain Grau (13.1%) pass the 10% mark allowing them to remain in the second round, in this city of 120,000 inhabitants anchored on the right since 60 years.

The ballot was marked by a strong abstention (60.27%).

Duel, triangular, quadrangular, these three scenarios are possible for a second round.

"The 3rd candidate and the 4th are trapped, if they keep going, they will make Pujol lose and win Louis Aliot, if they withdraw, it will be a duel shoulder to shoulder between Aliot and Pujol", estimates the AFP political scientist Dominique Sistach, from the University of Perpignan.

A victory for Louis Aliot in Perpignan would mark an additional step in the quest for a local anchoring of the RN, engaged under the leadership of Marine Le Pen in a strategy of dediabolization. During his campaign for the first round, the former chief of staff of Jean-Marie Le Pen, helped to stimulate a new line within the far-right party, without slippages or polemical formulas.

According to the last Ifop poll, the lawyer, established in Perpignan since 2008 would be victorious in the case of a duel against Mr. Pujol (51-49%) or Ms. Langevine (52-48%), even more clearly in triangular case (Aliot 41%, Langevine 31%, Pujol 29%).

- "Republican withdrawal" -

The outgoing mayor of Perpignan regretted the division of the right, which explains, according to him, his disappointing score.

Sunday evening, he called Agnès Langevine and Romain Grau to withdraw. "We must take responsibility, that is to say the republican withdrawal. (...) We must know who our opponent is, I know where he is," he told AFP.

He had launched the same appeal in 2014 and the withdrawal of the PS candidate had allowed his re-election.

Agnès Langevine considered that her score is "a positive result for the ecology in Perpignan". Asked about her strategy for the second round, retention or withdrawal, the vice-president of the Occitania regional council replied: "I am waiting to see if the second round takes place, before I speak. If it is postponed, it will be postponed until September at least. "

Contacted by AFP, Romain Grau did not wish to react.

© 2020 AFP