In this district of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, with two Sandrine Rousseau candidates, voters admit they are a little lost. “It’s disturbing”, confides a voter to us. “We will no longer know which Sandrine Rousseau to vote for”, regrets another voter.
On the left, there is Sandrine Rousseau, the NUPES candidate, a known face to environmental and feminist activists. On the right, a Sandrine Rousseau novice in politics, candidate of the movement for rurality. A pro-hunting activist who since the beginning of the campaign has not set foot in the 13th arrondissement of Paris and gives us an appointment in Normandy, 1h30 from the capital, where she has always lived.
This childcare assistant is appearing for the first time in an electoral ballot and she assumes not to campaign in Paris.
“I did not campaign, it was not my objective”, admits Sandrine Rousseau of the movement of rurality. Her goal, she says, is not to be a member of parliament but to play on this homonymy to get people talking about the rurality movement. If the movement invested her in Paris, it is because her name is Sandrine Rousseau, she herself recognizes it: “It’s a strategy”.
The other Sandrine Rousseau, the NUPES candidate, denounces an attempt at destabilization: “These are techniques used by Putin, these are techniques that aim to make voters make mistakes. It’s not democratic.”
The other candidates, they put this controversy into perspective. “It’s funny, it’s a little bit of humor. We sometimes need humor in a campaign”, laughs David Meyer, Reconquest candidate.
“They are both parachuted, neither has a link with the 13th unlike me who has been elected for more than 13 years in the arrondissement”, affirms Jean Baptiste Olivier, candidate LR
“Between Sandrine Rousseau on the very left and the other on the very right, who represents the interests of hunters, voters will be able to make their choice”, predicts Laurent Miermont, candidate for the Republican and Socialist Left.
In the 9th district of Paris, eight other candidates are in the running. As for the Sandrine Rousseau bulletins, they will be initialed in the name of their party to avoid any confusion.