Mélenchon: why he is a hit in Toulouse
Useful vote on the left and mobilization of abstainers and new voters explain an impressive increase in the Jean-Luc Mélenchon vote in Toulouse, in the lead with 37% of the vote far ahead of Emmanuel Macron (26%).
A vote on the left in national elections, on the right for the Capitol. This Toulouse paradox has never been as true as in the first round of the 2022 presidential election. While the mayor Les Républicains, Jean-Luc Moudenc, supports a candidate who totaled 3.80% of the votes in his city, Jean- Luc Mélenchon is a hit with 36.9% of the vote, far ahead of Emmanuel Macron (26.4%). Above all, he increases his score in considerable proportions: seven points more compared to 2017 (with 29.2%, he was already first), or 15,995 additional voters.
Meanwhile, the President of the Republic is stable, while losing a few thousand Toulouse voters compared to 2017. This is undoubtedly a first source of votes, coming from the left fringe of Macronist voters, in favor of the leader of the Unsubmissive.
The useful vote on the left, here as elsewhere, has also proved to be a powerful lever. In a city whose Capitol tenant kept saying during his 2020 campaign that she was on the left, Anne Hidalgo (PS) does not reach 3% (as in the region and the department). Among the Greens, Yannick Jadot is at 7.3%. And the communist candidate, Fabien Roussel, at 2%. The argument of the only candidate on the left capable of reaching the second round provided pink and green voters beyond the usual supporters. Including local executives of the PS, we slip in the Insoumis who do not forget to settle their accounts with the anti-Mélenchon position of Carole Delga, the socialist president of the Region. A faithful of the Marseille deputy said, moreover, “his anger” vis-à-vis the Communists who maintained a candidate. “We could have removed Le Pen. It didn’t take much. »
Jean-Luc Mélenchon was not mistaken: during his Capitol meeting on April 3, he had bet on this useful vote (which the Insoumis call “effective”), in particular by painting himself in the guise of an environmentalist .
Mobilization
But for this logic to work, the candidate of the Popular Union has also created another reservoir of votes – undoubtedly his real success – by attracting abstainers and first-time voters. Participation in Toulouse jumped more than three points to 77%. For the benefit of Mélenchon when the camp of the right – the fillonists of 2017 – has undoubtedly demobilized.
“The atmosphere was at the bottom”, underlines an activist who describes a real campaign dynamic with the arrival of new followers ready to tow and support expressed spontaneously. A dynamic that worked in working-class neighborhoods and, according to the Insoumis, among young people. “The young people recognized themselves in what they say: the Sixth Republic, ecology…, assures the Toulouse municipal councilor LFI, Hélène Magdo. Ecology is a marker won for us. »