The bus is leaving: we are in Amiens Nord, a working-class district called “priority”, with its blocks of buildings, 70% of which are social housing. Nearly 14,000 people live here, including many voters who cast their ballots in the first round of the presidential election. Despite Emmanuel Macron’s local ties in the capital of Picardy, on Sunday evening of the first round of the presidential election, it was Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came out on top with 31.45% of the vote, thus ahead of the outgoing president by 700 votes (29.95%), placing Marine Le Pen in third position.
>> Presidential 2022: all the results near you
“I voted Jean-Luc Mélenchonsmiles one voter, a 20-year-old college student, who wishes to remain anonymous.I follow him a lot on Twitter, on social networks. It puts more emphasis on youth. And then there was no choice…“, she specifies, before entrusting that for the second round, it will be”the blank vote“A little further on, Hamid, a 43-year-old security guard, pulls out his voter card: “Here, I voted Mélenchon. But that he asks not to vote Marine, it is not good. We want a change!“, assuring to be”sure and certain“to be ready to vote for the RN candidate in the second round.”What are we left? Only five years! Afterwards, if she doesn’t like it, it releases!” he concludes.
On her way downtown, 26-year-old Sarah, who works in marketing and communications currently looking for a job, puts it bluntly: “I voted Mélenchon. I didn’t vote out of spite, because it’s horrible and it’s a bit strong to say that. But we didn’t necessarily have a presidential campaign that lived up to what we wanted. In the second round, I will vote Macron, backwards. I just don’t want to vote Marine Le Pen“.
In this bar, Béatrice tries her luck with two one-euro scratch cards. At 63, this former domestic worker who had five children is not yet retired: “I expect 65 years for the minimum old age. In the meantime, I live with the RSA, 497.30 euros. I will vote for Mr Macron. He is from Amiens, he is much decried, he has been there for five years… He has not done everything people hoped for. But with the Covid, do you think he had a free hand? I think he worked well during the Covid”she believes.
“People are not happy because he wants to raise the retirement age, but we have to be honest, we have to. We have to stop complaining”
If Emmanuel Macron is slightly ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Amiens, Béatrice has her theory: “Amiens is a university town, there are a lot of young people who voted for Mélenchon. His program is very interesting, for young people, that’s for sure. In the second round, I’m going back there, there’s quite an interest. I’m a little afraid that Marine Le Pen will pass. She scares me of this woman”, finally slips Beatrice.
So, to calm the anxieties of the supporters of the outgoing president, in Amiens, the city which saw Emmanuel Macron grow up, these activists send him this word: “That the boss comes to see us, it would make us happy!“smiles Bruno Bienaimé, departmental manager of La République en Marche. “The fact that Jean-Luc Mélenchon made a better score is explained because the Socialist Party simply disappears. We are completely committed to the desire for Emmanuel Macron to be re-elected. We are not considering anything else. We are humble in our approach, we are very aware that society is changing, that we had a mandate with a lot of tension. We will continue to explain what will be positive in the next mandate, but it is sure that it will be more difficult“, admits this faithful of the president-candidate.
Five years ago, in Amiens, Emmanuel Macron largely beat Marine Le Pen in the second round with more than 72% of the vote.