Record abstention, failure of the RN, bonus for leavers: the lessons of the 1st round of the regional

DECRYPTION

The first round of regional and departmental elections took place on Sunday in France in a context of deconfinement after months marked by the coronavirus epidemic.

Should we see an impact of the health context on participation in this election?

In any case, it was marked by a record abstention of between 66.1 and 68.6% according to the estimates of polling institutes.

Europe 1 takes stock of the first lessons that can be drawn from election night and the first estimates.

A historic abstention

The Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, found "particularly worrying" the record level of abstention on Sunday on Twitter. The subject was the subject of multiple statements by political figures at the end of the ballot, the leader of the rebels Jean-Luc Mélenchon calling on Sunday "a commission of inquiry into the conditions in which the vote took place" which was peppered with malfunctions. "The (major) fact of this election is still the historic abstention which encourages us to be careful about the lessons that can be learned from this election," said Sunday evening on Europe 1 Bruno Jeudy, the political columnist and editor in chief of

.

"Basically, a third of the French have moved" only, he said.

But, warned Bruno Jeudy, "we know that even if in the last presidential election they were less numerous than in the previous one, they will inevitably be more numerous next year to travel."

"Counter-performance" of the RN and LREM

Calling for "a start" for the second round, the leader of RN Marine Le Pen admitted Sunday that her voters "did not come" during the first round of regional. "It is a poor performance for the finalist parties of the last presidential election," confirmed Bruno Jeudy. "Marine Le Pen and the national rally are far below their ambitions and it will be difficult (for them) to reach a region next Sunday." "We see that there will be no dynamic" and that Marine Le Pen "may have sold the skin of the bear before having killed it", he added.

"In any case, obviously, questions will no doubt arise at the National Assembly," said the political editorialist.

For him, "it is especially the old world which, this (Sunday) evening, pulls out of the game" with in particular "the LR lists and various rights which make very good scores".

The leaving bonus

Overall, early estimates seemed favorable to outgoing region presidents on Sunday. "The outgoing presidents, overall, from the right and even from the left, are rather well placed while they were given for some in difficulty," observed Bruno Jeudy. "I am thinking in particular of Renaud Muselier (in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, editor's note) or of left-wing presidents like Carole Delga (in Occitanie, editor's note) who is in a very, very good position."

For Bruno Jeudy, this fact "is not completely a coincidence". "I think that the outgoing regional presidents have built during this mandate the incarnation of what I call 'governors' and that basically, within the perimeter of their competences, they have met expectations," he said. -he analyses. "And like the outgoing mayors last year, the outgoing presidents are in a good position to win next Sunday."