In the aftermath of the first round of legislative elections, “we double our score compared to 2017″, underlines this Monday morning Gilles Pennelle, candidate of the National Gathering on the sixth district of Ille-et-Vilaine. The leader of the RN in Brittany totals 16.6% of the votes in his constituency, he was the guest of France Bleu Armorique to react to the results of this first round. No candidate from the Rassemblement National is present in the second round in Brittany. In the event of an Ensemble-Nupes duel, he calls on voters to vote blank. “We cannot transform the National Assembly into a trading room with Macron’s candidates, but neither can we transform it into a ZAD with Mélenchon’s candidates.”
Are you disappointed this morning?
Always a little disappointed not to be in the second round, of course, but with a very strong abstention, it is extremely complicated, hard. On the other hand, I note that throughout Brittany, including my constituency, we double our score compared to 2017. We had done 7.5, we are almost at 14% for the whole of Brittany. It’s a great performance in a difficult context, I repeat, of abstention, particularly in the popular categories. So yes, disappointed, but still reassured that the National Rally continues to establish itself in Brittany, in a solid way.
So it’s abstention that, in your opinion, prevents you from reaching the second round?
Yes, I think that a part, unfortunately, of our electorate again abstained yesterday. He did not see what was at stake in this election or on the contrary, he saw that with this unfair ballot, which is the majority ballot, it was complicated to have RN deputies. I would point out that if we had proportional representation, we would have many RN deputies in Brittany last night. It is an injustice and this injustice is perceived by our voters. But I note however that for the future, it is very reassuring since we are progressing very strongly compared to the last legislative elections of 2017. Florent de Kersauson misses the second round with a few votes (Editor’s note: in the 4th constituency of Morbihan), there might not have been a Reconquest candidate! , it would have been in the second round. But there, we are nevertheless satisfied with our scores.
Brittany remains a land of mission for the National Gathering? Do you tell yourself that the next time will be the right one?
It remains a more difficult land than elsewhere. Somewhere else, I specify that the National Rally will be present in 208 constituencies in the second round, which is a performance never before achieved. In Brittany, there is still a lot of work to do. I call on all Bretons to open their eyes because the choice between the far-left Nupes coalition and Macron’s coalition, which will further reduce purchasing power and forget rurality, is not a good choice for the Brittany.
At the national level, 19% of the votes for the National Rally, with the possibility, next Sunday evening, of having a group at the National Assembly. Is it satisfying at this level?
Yes, great satisfaction. All evening, we witnessed, a little, a smoke on the TV sets. We were only talking about Nupes, who ultimately only makes 25%, while the truth has imposed itself this morning, the French discover that the National Rally will be present in the second round, in a position, very often, to win in 208 constituencies . This means that we are going to have on Sunday, thanks to the mobilization of our voters who are mobilizing more in the second round, a powerful parliamentary group of the National Rally and that is great news.
Radio France projections give 20 to 45 seats for the RN. This group in the National Assembly is to be an opposition force. Are you the opposition to Emmanuel Macron and his government?
Yes, we are the opposition. I believe that we will have a lot more than 45 deputies, it is very important to have a powerful group from the National Rally because we saw, for example, last night, that the Nupes candidates are calling to vote for Macron’s candidates there where there is the possibility of electing an RN MP, and the same the other way around. So, in the end, they are still allies on the essentials. And above all, they want the same thing, to deconstruct France. Macron wants to deconstruct France from above, Mélenchon wants to deconstruct France from belowtherefore, the more deputies of the National Rally, the more it will be a good thing.
What are your voting instructions for next Sunday?
In the event of a duel between the far-left coalition Nupes and the candidates of Emmanuel Macron, we call on our voters to vote blank. We cannot transform the National Assembly into a trading room with the Macron candidates elected deputies, but we cannot either transform it into a ZAD with the candidates of Mélenchon. So a blank vote in the case of a Nupes-La République En Marche duel.