Paris (AFP)

The RN does not come first Sunday in the first round of the regional in any region, except perhaps in Paca, achieving scores lower than 2015 and lower than expected, in a test ballot for its president and candidate for the Elysée Marine Le Pen.

The far-right party, which recorded between 8 and 9 points less than in 2015, nowhere seems to be in a position to win.

The RN gathered between 19.1 and 19.3% of the votes and would not dominate in any region except, according to some polling institutes, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, region where the RN based its greatest hopes of victory. .

In previous regional events in 2015, the National Front (now the National Rally) gathered 27.7% of the vote in the first round and came out on top in six regions.

Marine Le Pen admitted on Sunday that his voters had "not moved" and called for "a start" for the second round.

She invited her voters "not to let themselves be influenced by the results of the first round and to mobilize their efforts to wrest the victories that France needs".

In 2015, the candidate of the National Front (now the National Assembly) Marion Maréchal had gathered in the first round 40.5% of the votes.

Pre-election polls credited Mariani between 39% and 42%.

- "Disappointment" -

In Pontet, a small town in Vaucluse held by the RN, a huge buffet and dozens of tables awaited activists in a tired municipal gymnasium for Thierry Mariani's election night.

But only a handful made the trip and the campaign staff looked like a bad day.

"It's a disappointment. And if this score is confirmed, it will be very difficult for the second round. I think that abstention is doing us very, very badly," Jihad Meroueh, a Right activist, told AFP. popular who supports Mr. Mariani.

On the difference of nearly seven points with Marion Maréchal in 2015, this director of a security company of 54 years affirms that "Marion, it is not the same. And they are not the same voters either".

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The RN, which was given the lead in six out of 13 regions (Paca, Bourgogne-France-Comté, Center-Val-de-Loire, New Aquitaine, Occitanie and Brittany), comes second in these territories.

In Center-Val-de-Loire, the outgoing PS François Bonneau is four points ahead of RN Aleksandar Nikolic, according to an Ipsos estimate.

In Occitania, the RN ex-LR Jean-Paul Garraud is 17 points behind by the outgoing PS Carole Delga.

In Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, RN Julien Odoul is less clearly ahead - by less than three points - by outgoing PS Marie-Guite Dufay.

- "Reflux" -

In Hauts-de-France, Sébastien Chenu remains in second place but is largely behind (by more than 14 points) by the outgoing ex-LR Xavier Bertrand.

In the Grand Est, Laurent Jacobelli also retains second place but 11 points behind the outgoing LR Jean Rottner.

No RN candidate exceeds 25%, while in 2015 Marine Le Pen and his niece Marion Maréchal had garnered more than 40% of the vote, and the former number two Florian Philippot 36%.

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"It is an indisputable ebb," says political scientist Jean-Yves Camus, for whom "arithmetic does not plead for a victory for Mr. Mariani in Paca".

The collapse in turnout "probably" also affected the working classes, who vote predominantly for the RN, according to him, while the RN electorate is usually the most mobilized.

But "above all, at the end of a long period of uncertainty (with the Covid), there is a will of voters to play the security card and vote for the outgoing presidents who, during the pandemic, had the opportunity to be present in the field, "he notes.

He also underlines that the RN electorate "is above all an electorate who votes first for the head of the RN, and not for candidates devoid of personality and autonomy".

© 2021 AFP