During his stay, the Prime Minister intends to address "those who voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon", who obtained more than 40% of the votes in the first round, a spectacular jump of 16 points compared to there five years old.
"And there were also the abstainers in Reunion, whom I also want to address," added the head of government to the press, nearly one in two voters having shunned the ballot boxes in the first round in Reunion ( 46.36%).
If the candidate of the National Rally Marine Le Pen has progressed by one point compared to 2017 to come close to 25%, Emmanuel Macron has lost ground on the island by falling by one point to 18%, contrary to his national score. which has grown over the past five years.
As soon as he arrived, he attacked Marine Le Pen's program: she "intends to lower France's contributions to the EU budget, the extremely concrete results of which we know in advance", he explained.
“It is less credits for the territories and in particular for the overseas departments. It would therefore be very serious”, he underlined.
"Reunion is a land of differences, of cohabitation, of openness. We cannot choose to withdraw," he insisted.
With a stroll through the center of Saint-Denis, then a planned trip to Saint-Pierre, punctuated by numerous meetings with voters and the media, Mr. Castex intends "to convince the people of Reunion of the importance of the extremely important choice for the island and for France" of the second round of April 24.
His entourage recalls that the LR candidate François Fillon had reached 17.3% in 2017 in Reunion, more than four times the score of Valérie Pécresse on Sunday (3.8%), voters who arouse the covetousness of the presidential party LREM.
© 2022 AFP