in Hénin-Beaumont, electoral stronghold of Marine Le Pen, “everything is going very well, Madame la Marquise”
ReportThe supporters of the far-right candidate are no longer hiding in this town in the mining basin of Pas-de-Calais, a former land of socialist election. Story of a voting day.
Hénin-Beaumont, 9:30 a.m., Sunday, April 24. “I saw something open so I went in. » In Pas-de-Calais, the electoral stronghold of Marine Le Pen is preparing, almost amused, for an inevitably turbulent Sunday. The Café de la Paix opened an hour before the polls. At the counter, the first coffees rub shoulders with the first semi-finals, voters and journalists spread out. “We took five years for five years, huh! », laughs the former boss. He has returned since the last presidential election, but continues to serve to pass the time. Today, he even put on a jacket and tie. “Like every Sunday”he wishes to clarify, nothing to do with the event of the day in the commune National Gathering (RN) of the mining basin: Marine Le Pen will come to vote there at the end of the morning.
In front of a puppy rosé, the former cemetery florist reads the press with a grumble. ” We take the same and start again “, he winces, glasses balanced at the end of his nose. In the first round, more than one in two voters voted for Marine Le Pen here (against 23.15% nationally). Him too. But not today, he swears, banging his fist on the table: “Anyway, it won’t pass, so I don’t see the point of moving. » His polling station, however, is barely 200 meters from the café. If Mme Le Pen is elected, the sexagenarian bets that the RN mayor of Hénin-Beaumont, Steeve Briois, will be appointed prime minister. And not sure if it is valid: “Let him already take care of his city, before taking care of the country. » Don’t count on him to give even his first name after daring to say that.
“You have to go, she’s coming. » Microphones and cameras are therefore found 200 meters further, in front of the Jean-Jacques-Rousseau school, which hosts office number 12 where the RN candidate comes to vote, at 11 a.m. “There are going to be surprises tonight,” promises Philippe Damiens, leaning on the barriers. “That’s a good mayor!” He is installed for a long time … unless he enters the government “, let go of the fifty-year-old while listening to Steeve Briois repeat his ” trust “ from journalist to journalist.
“It has to be today”
The fan club massed on the sidewalk believes in it just as much and makes it known. Philippe Boursaud, RN opposition adviser in the neighboring town of Carvin, came to see “the future president”. Nelly Lannoy, she even put the champagne in the fridge. Five years ago, the 53-year-old letter carrier had already voted for Mme The pen. “But nothing to see because, there, I really think that we will win. » She even took her party card this time.
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