Hadrian Clouet is the new deputy for the first constituency of Haute-Garonne, previously held by the presidential majority. He beat Pierre Baudis, son and grandson of two former mayors of Toulouse (and who campaigned under the Together banner) with 54.22% of the vote.
Christine Arrighi has, for its part, won in the 9th constituency. She largely beat Sandrine Mörch, the outgoing LREM MP with a score of 58.55%.
Francois Piquemal achieved the best score of Nupes in Haute-Garonne: he won 59.26% of the vote at the end of the second round in the 4th constituency.
Who are they ?
Hadrien Clouet, 30, is sociologist and professor at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaures. This social protection specialist and Mélenchonist activist since he was 17, first in the Left Party and then in France insoumise. He co-wrote the presidential program by Jean-Luc Melenchon. He defends “100% reimbursement of prescribed care”, and wants to “develop the economic sovereignty” of France and “strengthen employee rights“within companies, in particular “a right of suspensive veto” in the event of a social plan.
Christine Arrighi is the first ecologist MP to be elected in Haute-Garonne. She was a municipal councilor in Ramonville, regional secretary of EELV and had already stood for legislative elections in 2012 and 2017 in this same 9th constituency of Haute-Garonne, without reaching the second round. This 62-year-old retiree from public finance is mobilized on the ban on pesticidesin particular glyphosate, and pleads for a “fiscal revolution”, in order to “redirect capital towards production, and renewable energies.”
François Piquemal, 37, is history and geography teacher at the professional high school of Mirail. He was responsible for the association Droit Au Logement in Toulouse. He also wants to bring topics that relate to this issue to the Assembly. He is not a member of La France insoumise and was already without a label when he was elected municipal and metropolitan councilor of Toulouse, in 2020, on a union list LFI-EELV-GénérationS.
What opposition do they want to put in place?
Hadrien Clouet clarified how he envisaged his entry into the Assembly : “Indeed, we are in the minority. It is clear that we will not lead the next government. On the other hand, we have won the bet of being the first opposition force. And then the bet of having succeeded in reviving forces on the left, environmental forces, including in regions and departments, territories where it hasn’t existed for 30 or 40 years.
We succeed in being the first opposition force
When asked if he will block all presidential majority bills, here is his response: “If they’re bad, yes. But then it’s up to them to make good ones and submit proposals that are popular, even that are in the majority in the country. And if that’s the case, so much the better. I don’t I have no other compass than our political program. We have 650 measures on which we went to the elections together, within the framework of the Nupes. I will defend them one by one, whether it is a bill to be tabled at the office of the National Assembly, or whether it is a question of judging government projects in the light of our own program.
France Bleu Occitanie asked Christine Arrighi if she would be a radical MP : “When we have 35 degrees in June in Toulouse, do you think that radicality is not necessary? Radical is a noble term, which comes from the word “root”. And so, if we come back to the root of our project, we have to make a break today. Because if we don’t make a break, we will continue to live the episodes that we are living today. We will continue to live with forest fires that are not uncontrollable and we will continue to live, or no longer live, on a planet that will no longer be livable. Our opposition is constructive and necessary.”
When we have 35 degrees in June in Toulouse, do you think that radicalism is not necessary?
Jean-Luc Mélenchon will not be appointed Prime Minister as he hoped, but the Nupes becomes the first opposition force with 131 seats in the Assembly (against 245 for Ensemble) but François Piquemal is determined to pass laws: “My first fight in the Assembly will be to be a combative deputy and a proposal. But you know that the question of housing is particularly close to my heart since I was involved in an association on the subject. I therefore think that it’s something I’m going to work on.
My first fight in the Assembly will be to be a combative deputy
Especially since there is an emergency like every summer: 300,000 people are on the streets and people die as much in summer as in winter. This is abnormal in a country with more than 3 million vacant homes. So we have to find solutions so that everyone has a roof over their heads.”