first round cancelled due to “ten envelopes too many”

In the hemicycle, PS MP Jérôme Guedj asked for a “thorough investigation to be carried out”.

What happened during the first round of the election of the vice-presidents of the National Assembly? Two and a half hours after the start of voting operations, on Friday July 19, a dramatic turn of events. “After the count, it appeared that ten envelopes too many had been placed in the ballot boxes (…) We will have to redo the vote since the results were too small.”declared President Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance), re-elected to the rostrum the day before.

In the hemicycle, PS MP Jérôme Guedj strongly denounced a “fraud” and one “an event of absolutely unthinkable democratic brutality”after the cancellation of this first round. “Shame on those who practiced this fraud in our chamber, shame on them,” he thundered, asking that a “thorough investigation be implemented” andt that the “election procedures” be improved. In the Salle des Quatre-Colonnes, where the deputies meet the press, the elected officials appeared disillusioned. “I’m a little sad about the show we’re giving”reacted Jean-René Cazeneuve (Together for the Republic, ex-Renaissance), at the microphone of LCP.

“There are 577 MPs, it is not normal that there are 10 extra envelopes”declared Antoine Léaument (LFI) on BFMTV. “We cannot consider it to be a coincidence (…) “What happened? Who is responsible for this ballot stuffing? Why was it carried out?” asks the rebellious elected official, saying to himself “landed” by the situation. The spokesperson for the Republican Right, Vincent Jeanbrun, also expressed a “suspicion of ballot stuffing”.

After a new vote, four of the six vice-presidents were finally elected in the first round: the Insoumises Nadège Abomangoli and Clémence Guetté, who will be the first vice-president, the Horizons candidate and outgoing vice-president Naïma Moutchou, as well as Xavier Breton (Republican Right). In the second round, the resigning Minister of Industry Roland Lescure and the LR MP Annie Genevard were designated. Unlike in 2022, there will be no RN MPs in these positions.