With 3.13% of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections, Jean Lassalle positioned himself in seventh place out of twelve candidates during the elections. The leader of Résistons again made a lot of noise with his video during his visit to the polling station for the second round on April 24, 2022 which opposed Marine Le Pen (RN) and Emmanuel Macron (LREM). Posting on Twitter his choice to abstain, he provoked many reactions, including that, ruthless, of the committed comedian Sophia Aram.
For his vote in the second round, Jean Lassalle had initially announced that he would vote blank, but in the end he decided to abstain at the ballot box in his polling station in Lourdios-Ichère (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). He literally staged his moment by pretending to slip his envelope into the ballot box, only to then solemnly declare: “For the first time in my life as a man (…) I am going to carry out one of the most important acts of my life: I refuse to take part in this vote. That is to say: I abstain.“
After “these last 15 days of campaigning, which have given me so many sleepless nights (…) I told myself that the white vote was no longer up to scratch“, explained the deputy of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques to AFP. “On behalf of the constituency that trusted me so much, it seemed to me that I had to raise my voice a little bit and put myself in danger, to say that the situation is worrying“, he added. After”this act which could appear shocking or senseless“, according to him, the MP from Bearn indicates that he is “returned to a form of political maquis” and specifies that he “must continue its reflection in the coming weeks“on the maintenance or withdrawal of his candidacy for the next legislative elections in June.
With this gesture, Jean Lassalle violates one of the rules dictated by the electoral code. This code states that “any discussion or deliberation by voters is prohibited inside the polling stations“, emphasizes the Huffington Post. What did not escape the comedian Sophia Aram who then tweeted: “I have never seen such a stupid sight, nor such a spectacular idiot.“