Regional: RN and LR in a handkerchief in PACA, the left and abstention in referees
The candidate of the National Rally (RN) in the regional elections in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Thierry Mariani, during a press conference after the results of the first round of the ballot, on June 20, 2021 in Pontet in the south of France.
AFP - SYLVAIN THOMAS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), the candidate of the National Rally (RN) is doing less well than expected by the polls.
Thierry Mariani finds himself neck and neck with his rival, outgoing president Les Républicains de la region Renaud Muselier.
In large part because of the record abstention in the region.
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With our special correspondent at Pontet,
Julien Chavanne
It was not the expected scenario.
Promised in a first round in the pocket, Thierry Mariani misses his bet.
With around 36% of the vote, it is far from the
stratospheric scores anticipated by the polls
, below the result of Marion Maréchal in 2015.
If mathematically, the RN is still on the way to winning its first region, the equation becomes complicated.
Thierry Mariani finds himself in a close duel with his former friend Renaud Muselier.
After a long evening of waiting in his headquarters at the Pontet gymnasium near Avignon, the RN candidate finally speaks.
He appealed, rather a warning, to the abstainers: "
If you are not going to vote on Sunday, by giving the victory to the candidate of Emmanuel Macron, everything will continue as before.
If you wake up, if you are going to vote, then real change is possible.
"
In a room that sounds empty and in front of an overly generous buffet, the few dozen activists are shared.
Anger among some: “
There, now, that's enough!
If you want a change go ahead otherwise close it!
Stay home and keep on suffering!
»Loose an activist.
Another expressed his hope: “
Nothing is played, we keep hope.
We are ahead so it shows that we have a chance to win in the second round.
"
►
To read also: Regional and departmental: the right at the head of a ballot sealed by a record abstention
Mariani bets on a surge of RN voters
But other activists are still showing realism: “
It is certain, if there had not been this abstention, the scores which were announced, he would have been able to reach them.
It's not over, it was only half-time.
We are at half-time of the match, we'll see.
“An even tougher match than the first half.
“It's okay, we're athletic!
"
Thierry Mariani's entourage is now betting on a surge of RN voters.
He hopes to take advantage of the absence of a Republican front around Renaud Muselier.
Muzzle dredges environmentalists
The outgoing president of the region breathes better, satisfied "
to have made the polls lie
".
With its 32%, it remains in the race, while it dragged its
agreement with the Republic in March like a ball
.
But Renaud Muselier will not be able to count on a Republican front.
The candidate of the left Jean-Laurent Félizia has decided to stay in the second round, and this despite calls from the socialist, communist and environmental staffs in Paris.
The challenge for the next few days for Thierry Mariani like Renaud Muselier will be to mobilize voters who did not go to vote this Sunday.
Renaud Muselier begins to dredge the environmentalists as of this Monday morning on the occasion of a trip on his environmental program.
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