"We are here, we are here, even if Macron does not want it, we are here", sang at 8:00 p.m. the hundreds of activists present at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris, where the evening of the New popular ecological union was organized. and social (Nupes).

The Nupes will send 150 to 200 deputies to the Palais Bourbon, according to the various polling institutes.

For Ipsos, La France insoumise, which presented the most candidates by virtue of its third place in the presidential election, would win around 90 seats, the ecologists 30, the PS around twenty and the PCF 13.

"The situation is totally unexpected, absolutely unheard of. The rout of the presidential party is total", exclaimed Jean-Luc Mélenchon on stage at the Élysée Montmartre.

"We have achieved the political objective that we had set ourselves: in less than a month to bring down the one who, with such arrogance, twisted the arm of the country to be elected president without anyone knowing what to do" , he added.

Julien Bayou, the head of EELV, meanwhile had all the components of Nupes applauded, and paid tribute to LFI: "You can applaud them because it is obviously the rebellious, in the first place, who made this coalition possible" .

The national secretary of Europe Ecology Les Verts Julien Bayou in Paris, June 19, 2022 BERTRAND GUAY AFP

For the number 2 of the PS, Corine Narassiguin, "our alliance strategy has worked, we will almost triple the number of left representatives, and the intergroup will become the first opposition force".

At the PS, "we made the right choice, we responded to the expectations of voters who wanted union", "in their eyes we have re-anchored ourselves on the left", she added.

"Huge snub"

Ian Brossat, the right arm of the communist Fabien Roussel, re-elected like his socialist counterpart Olivier Faure and all the major figures of the left who presented themselves, was enthusiastic: "it's a huge snub for the outgoing majority, including several ministers would be beaten".

According to him, "the President of the Republic will have to give up many of his social regression reforms. In any case, there will not be a majority to vote for retirement".

The activists exulted when the defeats against the Nupes of Christophe Castaner and Richard Ferrand, respectively president of the group of outgoing LREM deputies and president of the outgoing National Assembly, appeared on the screens.

"Today there is no absolute majority for Emmanuel Macron, this is good news, he will not be able to do what he wants, and will have to make concessions", greets Théophile Nemoz, an activist from 24 years old, at the Élysée Montmartre.

This engineer says he "started to campaign for the legislative elections, with the union of the left".

The result "makes you want to continue to commit to this dynamic, it gives great motivation", he adds.

Good surprise in certain rural constituencies, such as in Creuse, where Catherine Couturier (Nupes-LFI) beat the outgoing deputy (Ensemble-Renaissance) Jean-Baptiste Moreau.

But Jean-Luc Mélenchon was not mistaken about the geography of the left vote: "we have to wait patiently for the figures of the big cities to go up so that we know where we are".

The United Left has also achieved success overseas, in particular six seats out of seven in Reunion, eight out of nine in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana, three out of three in Polynesia.

LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon (2nd left) alongside LFI deputy Michel Larive on the benches of the National Assembly in Paris, October 22, 2019 ERIC FEFERBERG AFP / Archives

Only shadows on the board: the outgoing LFI deputy Michel Larive was beaten in Ariège by the dissident PS Laurent Panifous.

And, according to Corinne Narrassiguin, several Nupes candidates risk losing to the RN, the fault according to her "to its trivialization" by the macronie.

© 2022 AFP