Christophe Castaner is in the lead, but in difficulty after the first round of the legislative ballot, Sunday June 12. His re-election as deputy for the 2nd constituency of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is not guaranteed even if he qualified for the second round with 30.16% of the vote. He is only very slightly ahead of Léo Walter (29.3%) of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes).
This very close to Emmanuel Macron, former Minister of the Interior then President of the group La République en Marche in the National Assembly, will not have been able to benefit from fragmented competition between multiple suitors. The left left very divided with the candidacies of Léo Walter for the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), Clémence Razeau and Nathalie Hue-Courtin (various ecologists), Frédéric Kechra for Lutte Ouvrière, or Laurent Vicente and Jean-Luc Soler, labeled far left.
The far right also went on a disunited campaign, with, in addition to the candidacies of Aurélie Abeille for the National Rally and Myriam Cadenel for Reconquest!, that of Danièle Daux for Les Patriotes, the party of Florian Philippot, ex-right arm by Marine Le Pen.
Elected since 2012
In 2017, Mr. Castaner crushed the competition in the first round, with 44.04% of the vote, ahead of Léo Walter, then candidate for La France insoumise (16.55%). He won in the second round against the latter, with 61.57% of the vote. At the time, he had benefited from the breath effect of the election of Emmanuel Macron, who had won in the second round more than 60% of the votes in the constituency, against Marine Le Pen. The context is different this year, since the outgoing president was only a very short head ahead of his rival, with barely more than half of the votes cast (50.67%).
Christophe Castaner, 56, was elected in this constituency for the first time in 2012, under the colors of the Socialist Party, and re-elected in 2017 under those of La République en Marche. Minister of the Interior from October 2018 to July 2020, he was implicated in particular for the practices of maintaining order during the demonstrations of “yellow vests”. He was also responsible for organizing the first confinement and health restrictions at the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
