Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister, in Calvados campaign for legislative elections

Arrived in the lead in the first round of the legislative elections in the 6th district of the department, the head of government should be elected without difficulty in the second round. But the real fight is the one who opposes it, at the national level, to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

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You have to listen to hear Elisabeth Borne’s voice. The television of the La Cigogne, in Thury-Harcourt (Calvados), broadcasts in BFM-TV loop, which turns in circles on the trip of Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine, this Thursday, June 16. A trailer “sells” the electoral evening of the second round of the legislative elections on Sunday. “Will Jean-Luc Mélenchon become Prime Minister?” Asks the voiceover. Intrigued, the current government chef folds the eyes to fix the screen.

She shoots her electronic cigarette – that a collaborator always keeps trendy between two breaks -, then takes up a sip of Badoit. “It will be stormy, you have to vote,” says the boss of the bar, amused to mix weather and political considerations. A few hours earlier, the Matignon tenant was ahead of Météo France to announce the passage of twelve departments in “Red Heat wave”.

has a client who undertakes him on his career, Elisabeth Borne replies: “At the moment, I am Prime Minister. And I am a candidate here”, in the 6 e district of the department. Norman Switzerland, as its inhabitants like to call it; Hilly, green and rich in shops. Peaceful. The man offers him a crystal elephant – “if he loses a defense, it brings bad luck” -, she pays him a beer in return, and hands him a leaflet. “I don’t vote here,” he rejects. Never mind. It is not his voice that will make the difference anyway.

Elisabeth Borne Meeting of the inhabitants in a bar in Thury-Harcourt, Calvados, June 16, 2022. Abdulmonam Eassa

The victory of Elisabeth Borne on Sunday in this macronist land, hardly does any doubts. On the evening of the first round, she came widely in the lead, with 34.32 % of the votes, in front of the candidate of the new Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nuts), Noé Gauchard (24.53 %). Alain Tourret, who passes his hand after holding the constituency for fifteen years, clears the campaign. At 61, the novice of electoral combat still lacks a little job.

“It is a woman who imposes”

His Villers-Bocage market tour on Wednesday a few kilometers away, did not mark the spirits. “I haven’t heard of it about the day. However, I have my little Commers customers …”, smiles Jennifer, behind the pastry counter, town hall. “She came to speak to me, it was not the most cordial or natural exchange there is, says Lucie Durand, who holds a clothing store, a street corner further. She asked me a question that made Very prepared. It is a woman who imposes it, she has something destabilizing. “A form of stiffness, perhaps, which she only manages to depart from private.

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