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BRIARE — Marie- French Schuffer, a 52-year-old farmer in a small town in central France, has just before the April presidential election against the incumbent Emmanuel Macron against the leader of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen. I never voted to the far right.
This month she denied immigration restrictions, European skeptics RN as the second largest party in parliament, more than 10 times more seats, and Macron's centrist politicians occupying the majority. He was one of many local voters. Helped ease through his planned reforms.
Chouffeur feels that Le Pen is focusing on living expenses and Macron didn't care about voters like her, especially because of soaring gasoline prices. Say he was persuaded.
"He (Macron) delayed us," she said while selling vegetables at the market in Briar, a quiet town about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Paris. ..
"He only takes care of big cities. They have trains and subways, we have cars."
With most people in the region Similarly, Chouffeur relies on his car and drives 64 km (40 miles) a day to get to work. RN's interests among voters like her show that Macron did not listen to lessons from the 2018-2019 Yellow Vest rebellion, caused by a sense of household erosion and state abandonment. increase.
"People were angry with Macron and wanted to send a clear message," said Gilles Ivaldi, far-right specialist at the CNRS Institute, carrying RN's record 89 seats. Said about. For the first time as Briar.
Actual split
Reuters analysis of data from the National Statistical Office Insee shows that in the 10 constituencies where RN scored the highest, residents 83.3% of them use their car to get to work.
This is compared to 46.1% of the 10 members of the Macron Ensemble Alliance who performed best, and 40.2% of the Nupes coalition on the left.
Indeed, refusal to immigrate is still a factor for many RN voters, including Choufeur.
However, car usage is "one of several ways to show that RN is a party in the surrounding area of France, and there is an actual territorial division," Ivaldi said. I am.
In the RN voting area, more than average people still use kerosene to warm their homes, making access to medical services difficult. According to the data, the poverty rate is higher than the national average but lower than the left voting district. ..
To address voter concerns and thwart political capital on the far right, Macron has already promised to promptly send proposals for living expenses to Congress.
However, despite being reelected in April and becoming the largest group in Congress, he needs to form an alliance to promote his program in Congress, which no longer controls. ..
Chouffeur's new MP, Mathilde Paris, says he wants strict restrictions on immigrants, but primarily supports proposals for reducing fuel taxes and improving mobile health facilities.
"I came from a local territory and was abandoned by medical services," 37-year-old Reuters told Reuters.
Many local voters still do not support the far right. However, the fact that Le Pen succeeded in detoxifying the image and was dissatisfied with Macron's first term means that some people do not actively vote to block RN as in the past. To do.
31-year-old Yannis Djaroun, who sells cherries at Briar's market and is lined with almost closed shops and restaurants, says he abstained in the second round of the election. get a qualification.
"It's always the same – cast a negative vote to the far right. I'm tired of it," he said. (Report by Layli Foroudi, edited by Ingrid Melander and Catherine Evans)
