“That’s the feeling of abandonment”

A few steps from the service station of a famous sign of Mousquetaires, Renée and Véronique discuss in front of their minivan, which passes under the red and blue rollers of the automatic washing machine. The vaporous mist that emerges refreshes their faces, already warmed by the late April spring sun. If the breeze is light, the tone is more serious. The former secretary of Spanish origins is sad to see that it was the candidate of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, who came out on top in her city, in Carmaux (Tarn), in the two rounds of the election. presidential.

Impossible for her and her daughter to slip a far-right ballot into a ballot box. On the other hand, Sunday April 24, this Carmausine did not give its vote to the candidate LREM. “I did not want to revote Macron, she says. I did it in 2017, to block Marine Le Pen.” She explains: “He is the president of the rich. But for people like us, in Carmaux, he did nothing. I have a small pension, I am alone and I live in social housing. Once the bills are paid, there’s not much left.”

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Like this retiree, many of them, in the former workers’ city, have not renewed their vote for Emmanuel Macron. In all, the re-elected president lost 821 votes between 2017 and 2022, a drop of nearly 17 points in five years. It is also one of the cities where the score of the outgoing president has plummeted the most. In 2017, Emmanuel Macron finished well ahead, with more than 63% of the vote, against 36.83 for Marine Le Pen. Five years later, the dam against the far-right party has broken down. The RN candidate dominates, with more than 53% of the vote.

Why such a swing? “Macron seduces lessnotes the elected opposition (PS) carmausin, François Bouyssié, 34 years old. I myself did not vote for him in the second round. It was not possible. In 2017, all the socialists had voted for him in the second round, because there was no question of seeing Marine Le Pen’s score grow. But after five years in office, the socialist did not want to give carte blanche to the outgoing president.

It must be said that the left has marked the history of the Tarn town. Until 2020, Carmaux was a centuries-old socialist stronghold, which saw the emblematic figure of Jean Jaurès grow. It is also here that François Mitterrand had launched his Elysian campaign in 1980, thus inaugurating a socialist tradition: a passage through the mining town almost automatic with each campaign, like a pilgrimage, respected until 2017. All the party candidates there have stopped over.

Once attractive and dynamic, driven by jobs in the surrounding mines, Carmaux has lost its splendour. More than 5,000 inhabitants have left the town since the 1970s, according to INSEE, going from 14,755 inhabitants in 1968 to 9,641 in 2018. Now, the city is mainly populated by retirees. Unemployment plagues 35.6% of young people aged 15 to 24, and more than a third of working people have no diploma. Since the early 2000s, the mine no longer supports the locals. The majority of workers are regional civil servants, employees of a telephone call center or a company reintegrating disabled people.

A breeding ground favorable to the push of the RN, synonymous with anger, according to the mayor of the city, Jean-Louis Bousquet (without label). “We see through these results that the National Rally is a refuge for disgruntled people”analyzes the elected official, who does not hide his left-wing sensitivity, while having refused to commit himself behind a party. “Finally, if we make them a different and reasonable offer, the Carmausins ​​are ready to go. They are not extremists. They are simply looking for an opening and to show their dissatisfaction.”

However, Carmaux is far from being landlocked. Located 15 minutes by car from Albi, the city is accessible by train and bus, even if the timetables do not really allow to satisfy the workers in staggered hours. Where does this resentment come from? For Richard Navarro, secretary of the carmausine section of the CGT, it is the question of purchasing power which has been decisive, in a city where the poverty rate exceeds 20%, according to INSEE. “Here, people are employed in small structures. There are no works councils with purchase vouchers or discounts on activities. Small bosses, low salaries, unemployed… Everyone takes the car to get around. And gas is expensive”, he explains.

“On the roundabouts, at the time of the ‘yellow vests’ movement, people were fighting to keep their schools, their post, their public services. That’s also the feeling of abandonment.”

Richard Navarro, secretary of the local section of the CGT

at franceinfo

The trade unionist has seen it himself: even salaried workers find it difficult to end the month without an overdraft. “I am a civil servant in the territorial public service, he explains. Some of my colleagues, who earn 1,700 euros a month, have trouble making ends meet. They go to their friends who work in social work and quietly ask them for help, saying, ‘I can’t pay my rent or feed my children anymore.'” He pauses. “These are people who work”he repeats, stunned.