in the constituency of Raquel Garrido, the left leaves divided

In the 5th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, the outgoing LFI MP Raquel Garrido was not invested by the New Popular Front.

Last hours of official campaigning before the first round of legislative elections, Sunday June 30. In the 5th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, the candidate officially invested by the New Popular Front, Aly Diouara, faces a dissident candidate, Raquel Garrido.

Raquel Garrido, the outgoing LFI deputy, maintained her candidacy. However, it is not her that France Insoumise chose to represent the New Popular Front. The elected official says she is the victim of an internal purge, for having distanced herself from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, but remains determined to be re-elected. What Aly Diouara, an association activist who officially represents the colors of the union of the left, finds “totally irresponsible”. “Mrs. Garrido has decided to maintain her candidacy in a form of dissidence, by usurping our graphic charter, by knowingly using it not only on her leaflet, but also on official documents, on the profession of faith, on the ballot paper. It is fraud.”

The courts rejected France Insoumise’s requests that the ballots of dissident outgoing LFI deputies not be placed in the polling stations. In this 5th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, the left is divided with five candidates in total. Markeins Pierre leaves under the miscellaneous left label, he regrets that his camp is scattered: “Today, we talk more about that than about the real issues that concern the residents, it’s a shame. I would have liked all the left-wing forces to sit around a table and discuss. It hasn’t been done, and it’s a shame. I hope that people will be intelligent enough to unite, maybe later.”

This disunity of the left should benefit other candidates at the polls, such as the centrist mayor of Drancy Aude Lagarde: “The insults between them fly, they tear down each other’s posters, that amuses me a lot. I fight to defend the inhabitants of the constituency.”

And at the National Rally, far-right candidate Eric Kozelko could also benefit from the dispersion of the left: “I think there will be a scattering of votes. I think I will end up in the second round.” In 2022, the National Rally only received 9.6% of the votes in this 5th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, very far from qualifying for the second round.

5th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis

• Rodolphe FEGER
  Leftmost
• Eric KOZELKO
  National Rally
• Aude LAGARDE
  Various center
• Raquel GARRIDO
  Miscellaneous left
• Aly DIOUARA
  Union of the Left
• Helene BALLOUHEY
  Leftmost
• Tatiana BOUTIGNON
  Miscellaneous
• Markeins PIERRE
  Miscellaneous left