For the two main government parties of the Fifth Republic, this day of voting looks like a descent into hell.

The Socialist Party (PS) and Les Républicains (LR) record their historic lows during a presidential election.

During this first round of April 10, the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo collected less than 2% of the vote, while Valérie Pécresse is around 5%, according to the latest estimates from polling institutes.

The candidacy of the mayor of Paris sank, further dividing by three the score of Benoît Hamon, associated in 2017 with a first historic explosion (6.34%).

According to estimates, it is overtaken by the communist Fabien Roussel, Jean Lassalle and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.

The Socialist Party is bloodless

When the results were announced, the room in southern Paris where the election evening was held froze in silence.

Few activists were present.

The candidate spoke immediately afterwards, calling for "vote on April 24 against the far right of Marine Le Pen using the Emmanuel Macron ballot".

Anne Hidalgo also assured that the fight would continue to "oppose the unjust projects of retirement at 65, the rampant privatization of school, university and health, the stigmatization of the poorest and the unemployed. , and climate inaction".

The PS, which was in 2012 at the head of all the institutions (presidency, Assembly, Senate), is now bloodless, but still runs 25 departments, five regions and among the largest cities.

Anne Hidalgo is far below the threshold of 5% of the vote to be reimbursed for her campaign expenses, even if the financial impact should be low, the PS having almost entirely self-financed its presidential election, at low cost, through its federations.

"Personal and collective disappointment" for Valérie Pécresse

On the right, the president of the Île-de-France region comes very far behind François Fillon's score in 2017 (20.1%) and could also end up below 5% of the vote.

The defeat was expected but the LR executives could never have imagined falling to this symbolic floor.

Worse, the LR candidate arrives behind Éric Zemmour – a snub for the team which still hoped, a few days ago, to succeed in saving the furniture with a score above 10%.

When the results were announced, a great groan ran through the public of elected officials and LR supporters gathered at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris.

"It's a personal and collective disappointment", assured Valérie Pécresse, who, recalling "(her) commitment against the extremes", immediately announced that she would vote "in conscience" for Emmanuel Macron in the second round.

This is the second time that the main right-wing party has failed to pass the first round of the presidential election.

In 2017, François Fillon won 20% of the vote in the first round, a stone's throw from Marine Le Pen.

It was then the worst score of a right-wing presidential candidate, but 15 points above that of Valérie Pécresse five years later.

Since then, LR has experienced a new trauma with the score of François-Xavier Bellamy (8.5%) in the 2019 Europeans. On Sunday, the party tumbled again, until it hit rock bottom.

Surprise winner of the LR primary in December, credited with 17-18% of the vote in January, Valérie Pécresse nevertheless appeared at the start of the year capable of qualifying for the second round, bringing the large right-wing family back to its party role. of government.

But it has continued to decline since then, with successive levels: the failed meeting of February 13 at the Zenith which earned it a lot of ridicule, the war in Ukraine which made it suffer from a "flag effect", finally a useful voting reflex accelerating its decline at the end of its course.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN