Ten days after the violence around the Stade de France, it is on another football field that we find the Minister of the Interior. In the middle of the legislative campaign, Gérald Darmanin wets the jersey. But no question of doing a post-match interview.
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Gérald Darmanin sends us his replacement: Vincent Ledoux, outgoing MP for Tourcoing, and substitute for Gérald Darmanin in this 10th constituency in the North, where all the candidates, right and left, are seeking to bring down the minister.
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“I was the one who asked him to represent himself”. The latter accepted this endangerment, as he says. He knows that a minister who fails in his constituency will have to leave the government. “That’s also the beauty of politics”assures the deputy, “we cannot be afraid of the people and the voters. On the contrary, Gérald Darmanin needs to plunge back into the bath of legitimacy”.
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Legitimacy, of course, but it is therefore not the minister who will sit in the Assembly in the event of re-election. A brake for potential voters? “Nope. For me, a minister must be a minister. He doesn’t have time for anything else anyway…”launches a man who says he is convinced by the former LR. “Gérald Darmanin has done a lot for me, I will continue!”, approves another. Others are less convinced: “Racism is starting to rise in the country… and unfortunately Gérald Darmanin is fueling it”.
Critics of the candidate minister, we hear many others from his opponents. Mélanie D’Hont, candidate for the National Rally, dreams of inflicting a defeat on the minister. “It’s motivating !”she says. “It does not scare us. Mr. Darmanin is just looking for labels. This election basically only serves as a springboard for his career”. Faced with the tenant of Place Beauvau, Mélanie D’Hont is campaigning in particular on insecurity. With a topical argument: “Here we see a lot of refusal to comply with customs and the police… The minister does nothing”.
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A minister also attacked on the overflows around the Stade de France, angle chosen by the candidate of the Republicans, Jérôme Garcia. “It’s a symptom of something much more serious”assures the one who denounces a “Low State”prey to a form of local delinquency that he cannot manage to contain. “I think Gérald Darmanin dreams of being Nicolas Sarkozy or Charles Pasqua. But under Sarkozy or under Pasqua, there was a real drop in crime. His record is very, very bad”.
A few kilometers away, an air well known to left-wing activists resounds. The ratings of Bella Ciao, covered on the guitar, spit out from the loudspeakers on the Halluin sale. On that day, almost all the candidates meet. But some activists are more active than others. A man distributes leaflets: “Gentlemen, ladies, the Mélenchon program!”
On the leaflets, the photo of the leader of rebellious France, next to Leslie Mortreux. The young candidate refuses to hear that the battle promises to be difficult, in a constituency anchored on the right. “In reality, our ideas have a lot of weight. Mr. Mélenchon had himself made 36% in Tourcoing. We think that the second round is accessible. And even that a victory is possible”.
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And then in this campaign, there are those who do not hope to be elected but want to take up their fight, such as the Lutte Ouvrière party, represented by Christophe Charlon and his deputy Kévin Creton. Their target? Employers and the candidate minister: “With him, it’s the hunt for undocumented people, it’s repression in the demonstrations. We, our camp, is that of the workers”. They only have two days left of the campaign to make their voices heard.
Romain VAN GANSEN – ECO (Animal Party)
Jerome Garcia – LR (The Republicans)
Louis Bleuze – REC (Reconquest)
Gerald DARMANIN – ENS (LREM)
Oueb LEUCHI – ECO (Ecologist)
Marcellin BRAZON – DVD (Let’s resist!)
Christophe CHARLON – DXG (Workers struggle)
Leslie MORTREUX – FI (Nupes)
Valerie DUMORTIER – DSV (The Patriots)
Melanie D’HONT – RN (RN)