The environmentalists’ motion to reject, aiming not to examine the government’s text, was adopted on Monday by 270 votes to 265. In the majority, a few votes were missing for various reasons.
He wanted to dot the i’s. “In the six and a half years that we have been in charge, there have never been so many deputies present at a specific time to make a vote,” hammered, Tuesday, December 12, Sylvain Maillard, the boss of the Renaissance deputies, on France Inter, refusing any “witch hunt”. And to insist: “97% of my group was present.”
Except that wasn’t enough. On Monday, the presidential camp suffered a historic political setback in the National Assembly. The deputies adopted by 270 votes to 265 the motion to reject the environmentalists, aiming not to examine the immigration bill, carried by Gérald Darmanin. In the presidential camp, the astonishment is total. “I think we don’t realize the extent of the political crisis that lies before us”whispers an influential Renaissance deputy.
“It will be played to within five votes”, predicted, a few moments before the vote, several sources in the majority. This is exactly what happened. At Renaissance, five votes missed the call, the exact difference between the votes for and against. The allies of the Macronists were also not all in full force: three MoDem deputies did not take part in the vote, while a deputy from the Horizons group was absent. The oppositions were not 100% present either, since 10 left-wing deputies did not vote.
Two voting delegations refused
At Renaissance, according to corroborating sources, two voting delegations – which allow deputies to transmit their vote to one of their colleagues within a strict framework – could not be recorded at 4 p.m., causing the majority to lose precious votes. First, that of Anne Genetet, deputy for French people abroad, who was traveling in China at the time of the election. His delegation was “refused on the grounds that she wrote ‘as of Monday evening'”underlines a source in the majority, while the vote took place around 5:40 p.m.
The other MP concerned by this refused voting delegation is Michel Lauzzana. The elected official from Lot-et-Garonne assures that he sent a medical certificate on Friday to his parliamentary group as well as to the services of the Assembly in order to obtain authorization to vote despite his absence. Problem: the Renaissance group noticed on Monday that the attachment containing the medical certificate had not been correctly transmitted to the Palais-Bourbon services. Too late to rectify the situation. “I had a clear conscience and thought I had done the right thing. I supported the government’s text and I would have voted against the motion to reject”he sighs, evoking a situation “very disagreeable.”
“It’s very painful for me to have to justify myself.”
Michel Lauzzana, Renaissance deputyat franceinfo
Jean-Philippe Ardouin, deputy for Charente-Maritime, for his part justifies his absence by “a long-planned trip abroad” and claims to have warned the Renaissance group “a week ago”. “J‘would have obviously voted in the direction of my group against this motion to reject’, he comments. Contacted, Amélia Lakrafi, Renaissance MP for French people abroad, did not respond to our requests, like Philippe Bolo, MoDem MP who was also absent during the vote.
About ten minutes…
There are also those who experienced transport delays, causing them to miss the fateful moment. Philippe Berta, MoDem deputy for Gard, is one of them. “I had a suspicion of Covid, and so I was waiting for the results of my PCR test to go to Paris. Then my train was an hour and a half late, I didn’t have time to arrive”he says. “This is the first time this has happened to me in seven years”laments this trained geneticist, who would have voted like his group. “We have seen the worst of the worst of low political maneuvering”he whispers about the joint vote of the oppositions.
Anne-Cécile Violland, Horizons MP, was also on a train with another colleague, LR MP Virginie Duby-Muller. Here again, their journey from Haute-Savoie was an hour late. Arriving in Paris, the two elected officials both rush on a motorcycle taxi to hope to arrive in the hemicycle on time. “I was listening to the debates in an earpiece and when I realized there was only one speaker left, I knew it wasn’t going to do it”, relates the first, deeply disappointed. The two parliamentarians will finally arrive ten minutes after the public vote.
“It’s a huge frustration to have missed the vote, it’s extremely annoying.”
Anne-Cécile Violland, Horizons MPat franceinfo
“It didn’t come down to much”, continues Anne-Cécile Violland, who immediately sent a message to the office of the Minister of the Interior. Those close to Gérald Darmanin reassured her, reminding her that her voice alone would not have been enough to tip the scales. The elected official never stops railing against the LR deputies who voted for the rejection motion: “They refuse debate, it’s absurd, they will be accountable to their voters.”
A substantive opposition for a MoDem deputy
Monique Iborra, Renaissance MP for Haute-Garonne, was not at the Assembly because she accompanied the President of the Republic to Toulouse, for a trip dedicated to a progress report on France 2030. “I was the only representative of Renaissance [sur place]. I had to be thereshe justified, to The Dispatch. Obviously, I would have voted against this motion to reject because this law on immigration is essential, many people were waiting for it.”
A point of view diametrically opposed to that of Mohamed Laqhila. This MoDem deputy is the only member of the majority not to have taken part in the vote to indicate his refusal of the government text. “I have had a very bad time with this debate for years”he explainedur BFMTV, ensuring that “the bottom” of the bill did not suit him. “The text of the Senate is the program of the RN”he castigated.
These deputies should have a new chance to express themselves on the immigration bill, since the government has chosen to send the text back to the joint committee.