Gendarmes, TV control trucks, men in suits roam the town center of Figeac, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, in the Lot prefecture. This parade makes this shopkeeper say: “I thought there was an arrival of bankers, but it is to prepare for the arrival of the president-candidate. The prospect of seeing the city center cordoned off for a good part of the day does not delight this manager of a clothing store: “they are requisitioning the parking lots, my customers won’t be able to park, I’m thinking about closing the shop”.
Will she attend Emmanuel Macron’s meeting? “No. I know what he did to help traders during the health crisis, but I also railed against him for five years. He was slow to respond to the yellow vests! I would go on Sunday to block Marine Le Pen, vote against the far right, but not by choice for Emmanuel Macron.
– Marion Chantreau
“He comes to a socialist land, reach out to Martin Malvy”
Buses of En Marche activists and elected officials committed to the cause of Emmanuel Macron are expected in Figeac this Friday afternoon. The president-candidate will speak at 3:15 p.m. in the hall of Place Carnot, where the Saturday market is usually held.
Michel, a native of Figeac, wonders “why Figeac?” Emmanuel Macron appreciates the Lot. Its Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie has ties there. Emmanuel Macron had already been to Figeac in 2015, when he was Minister of the Economy. Last June, he went to Saint-Cirq-Lapopie and Martel. He also held a major national debate in Souillac in 2019 during the yellow vests crisis. Michel has his own idea: “he comes to reach out to Martin Malvy”, socialist mayor of Figeac from 77 to 2001, budget minister to François Mitterrand, president of the Midi-Pyrénées region between 98 and 2015. According to Michel, “if Figeac is there today, dynamic companies, an active population, it is thanks to Malvy.”
“He comes to make a foot appeal to the socialists“, also thinks another resident interviewed who judges Emmanuel Macron as “a technocrat who needs rurality and empathy”. In the first round of the presidential election Emmanuel Macron came out on top in the commune of Figeac with 28.1%, just ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon at 26.8% and Marine Le Pen at 15.1%.
The PS mayor of Figeac, André Méllinger, called for a vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round on Sunday:
There is no antagonism between the fact that Figeac is a left-wing city and the fact that it is proud to receive a president-candidate who will not carry 100% of his values but who comes to hear messages. He could have listened more to people in difficulty, retirees, employees, the agricultural world. I did not sponsor him, nevertheless at the dawn of the Second Round, there is no hesitation between a person who guarantees the institutions and the Republic and another xenophobic and racist.
In Figeac, many residents met have “no opinion” on the arrival of Emmanuel Macron and answer that he “goes where he wants to go, who cares”. Some undecided will however lend an ear to the speech this Friday afternoon, if they manage to reach the place Carnot.