Carole Delga was in Saint-Gaudens (Haute-Garonne), this Sunday evening, for the first round of the legislative elections. First with his campaign director hat for Joël Aviragnet, outgoing PS deputy in the 8th district, who will face Loïc Delchard of the RN in the second round.
But Carole Delga also and above all has a look at NUPES, which she refused to support before the first round.
First, the eighth constituency of Haute-Garonne, what is your reaction?
This result is encouraging. An encouragement to clear values that we carry with Joël Aviragnet. Socialist values, leftist values, rallying values.
But for all that, we have a very high level of the extreme right and that obliges us. Because we clearly have a signal, once again in Comminges, a message of despair from our fellow citizens. This despair, it is linked to unjust Macronist policies and therefore we must all mobilize so that Joël Aviragnet can win largely against the far right.
Joël Aviragnet called on all the candidates to rally behind him in a republican way, against the far right.
Is it still a “simpler” second round for you, with the RN in front?
I don’t have that kind of cynicism when the far right goes through to the second round, because to me that means my country is doing badly and in my constituency there are a lot of desperate people. So I am not into tactical analyses.
Me, I do politics for people, with heart. Of course, I am happy that Joël Aviragnet is first. But for all that, this result moves me because I measure how much there is despair, resignation, anger among our fellow citizens. And that is why we must mobilize. Nothing is won. We have to work hard for six days now.
At the national level, when you see that NUPES comes out on top, don’t you regret not being part of this adventure?
Not at all. You know, we do politics out of conviction. I have certain points in common with the NUPES program. But I still have more differences. I have differences on issues of secularism, communitarianism, on international issues, on European issues, on energy issues.
So I think what is needed is to be sincere. And in addition, I can see that other candidates who have had the same sensitivity as me have scored either very honorable (more than 15% or 20%), or are outright in the second round.
If he is elected, with whom will Joël Aviragnet sit in the Assembly?
We have always been very clear. He will sit in the Socialist Group. Because the NUPES group does not exist. In the NUPES agreement, what was agreed is that everyone would have their group. Ecologists will have their group, but also communists, socialists, rebellious France, etc. And there will be an intergroup. But from a legal point of view, there is no NUPES group in the National Assembly.
Maybe it will come?
It could happen. Maybe, but today it’s not. This is why Joël Aviragnet will sit on the socialist group.
What analysis do you make on these results of the first round?
I recall my constant position for years: I call to vote for the candidate or the candidate who is against the extreme right, in a systematic way. Whoever the candidate against the extreme right, I call to vote for him.
In other cases, I am a leftist. Already in 2017, I had called to vote on the left and again, I continue to call to vote on the left.