“The vote of the electors reflects the vote of the population”, explains a mayor of Seine-et-Marne

Marine Le Pen’s party has never had so many seats at the Luxembourg Palace: Monday October 2, three National Rally elected officials will arrive in the Senate. During the elections, the RN’s score was up in almost all departments. How can this progression be explained? Franceinfo went looking for answers in Seine-et-Marne, which has, for the first time, an RN senator.

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Just elected senator, Aymeric Durox, 38, is putting his cards on the table: he has put in place a real strategy to win his seat. Elected locally, he plowed the ground and, above all, expanded his list: “Historically, sociologically, it is a land with a right-wing majority, RPR type. I presented a list, let’s say, ‘RPR historic channel’ with six members out of eight who came from the UMP or the RPR, and who joined us. It was a list that seemed to be able to seduce and reassure voters, particularly rural ones.“.

Discreet voters

The chosen one has no taboos about his strategy. On the other hand, by looking for its major rural voters – mayors and municipal councilors without political label – despite numerous phone calls made, no one dares to reveal having voted RN. Moreover, most voters do not want to show their choice at all. This is the case of the mayor of Forges, Romain Senoble. But he has an opinion on the question: elected officials are, quite simply, indicative of the choices of the population.

“The National Rally came first in more than 70% of municipalities in the last elections, so it is not shocking to see an RN senator emerge in our territory.”

Romain Senoble

at franceinfo

“It is more up to the ‘traditional’ parties, if I may say so, to ask themselves the question of why the National Rally is emerging on our territory. Maybe rural areas no longer feel heard“, adds the mayor.

The fear of being deprived of subsidies

The RN believes it is responding to this feeling of neglect by talking about the defense of small towns, public services and agriculture. This speech convinced Renaud Hée, one of the only clearly identified RN municipal councilors in Seine-et-Marne. For him, if the other elected officials do not want to publicly assume their vote, it is because they “do not wish to lose certain intermunicipal subsidies”. For him, there is a “sword of Damocles above the heads of elected officials within the intermunicipality”.

Voting for the RN would run the risk of being singled out and receiving less money for your municipality. However, according to Renaud Hée, the phenomenon will fade, as Marine Le Pen’s party gains weight at the polls.