Manuel Valls has been eliminated from the ongoing French legislative election. He announced via his official Twitter handle that he has been defeated in the first round of the election and will not be representing French people living abroad.
According to the report by AFP, Manuel Valls, official candidate of the presidential majority, had announced on Sunday evening his elimination in the first round of the legislative elections in the 5th constituency of French people living abroad.
The former head of the French government calls for “blocking the candidate of Nupes”, Renaud Le Berre, who came first according to his training, in this fifth constituency of French people living abroad, which includes Spain, Portugal, Monaco and Andorra and has approximately 120,000 registered voters.
“I can’t ignore my score”
“I take note of the results on the 5th circumference of the FDE (French from abroad)”, writes the former Socialist Prime Minister on Twitter, before “thanking the voters who (him) trusted”, “the presidential majority for his nomination and his support”.
“If dissidence and division have sown confusion, I cannot ignore my score and the fact that my candidacy has not convinced. An election is a moment of truth”, adds Manuel Valls on the social network. And to add: “It is up to me lucidly to draw the consequences. Life is beautiful enough to turn the pages quietly”.
The report by AFP revealed that the announcement on May 5 of the investiture of the former Prime Minister had the effect of a bomb in this constituency, especially among the French residing in Spain. Stéphane Vojetta, outgoing deputy wearing the colors of La République en Marche (LaREM), had decided to stand up to this “parachuting” while promising, if elected, to remain “a loyal support” of Emmanuel Macron. Indicating on his Twitter account that he had qualified for the second round, he called on the presidential majority on Sunday evening to “unite behind (his) candidacy”.
“But it must also take note of the message sent by the voters: a requirement for less verticality, more listening to the field, and a real renewal of our practices and our political personnel”, he said. added.
In the evening, the former head of government tweeted “Goodbye Twitter” then his account, from which all tweets were deleted, displayed a closing message (“this account does not exist”).
A failure mocked by the Nupes
For these legislative elections, Manuel Valls thought he could rally voters thanks to his CV and his network. His failure marks a new setback for this former heavyweight of the socialist party who had left French political life four years ago to try in vain in 2019 to conquer the town hall of Barcelona, his hometown. This new failure of the former Prime Minister was particularly mocked by the Nupes.
“This is what we call a good Sunday evening to start the last week of the campaign in France!”, tweeted Manon Aubry, MEP for France Insoumise while Adrien Quatennens, number two of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party published a photo of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and other LFI parliamentarians holding up “Good riddance” signs.
French people residing abroad were expected to go to the polls this Sunday for the first round of legislative elections. For the American continent and the Caribbean, the ballot began on Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the world. The results of the 11 constituencies of French people living abroad must be known overnight from Sunday to Monday. In metropolitan France, the first round will take place on June 12.
(AFP)