Many ignore it, have forgotten it or pass over it in silence, but on June 20 and 27, the departmental elections and simultaneously the regional elections will take place. However, regrets Jean-Michel Ducomte, lecturer at the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Toulouse, “the campaign did not take place”. Because, for him, the “regional elections, which are a preparation for the presidential election, destroyed the possibility for the departmental ones to appear”.
In addition, the Department suffers from “poor readability”. “With the start of decentralization in 1982, he acquired skills in the social field. And many people unknowingly use its services. However, if the attention is focused on the regional elections, the departmental ballot remains a real revealer of the territorial political structuring. And, in Occitania, the Socialist Party has eleven departments out of thirteen. Until when ?
Haute-Garonne: a boulevard for the PS
Georges Méric, PS president, elected in 2015, is back in the fray to keep his seat and keep the department in the bosom of the left. In this campaign, he takes with him a large team of union of the left, which includes the Radical Left Party (PRG), the French Communist Party (PCF), Génération.s, Place Publique, Nouvelle Donne, the Republican Movement. and citizen (MRC), the Republican and Socialist Left as well as the Tous pour Toulouse movement. Holder of 23 cantons out of 27, the PS, with its allies, under the label “departmental majority”, is a natural favorite. The ecologists of Europe Ecology-The Greens, however, go it alone and present two pairs in all the cantons.
Tarn-et-Garonne: Jean-Michel Baylet, the return?
Jean-Michel Baylet, former president of the community over which he ruled for 30 years, is back in the race with a thirst for revenge. The PRG boss of La Dépêche du Midi, still powerful in his stronghold, is a candidate for the canton of Valence-d’Agen. In 2015, he was beaten by Christian Astruc, ex-PRG, at the head of a right-wing and center coalition. Jean-Michel Ducomte then sees in it “a sanction vote against the Baylet dynasty”. The vote in Tarn-et-Garonne, however, remains uncertain. “We must not forget that Brigitte Barèges was mayor Les Républicains of the city of Montauban. Neither the push of the National Rally (RN) in Moissac with the election of the mayor Romain Lopez. Will Marine Le Pen’s party take the cantons of Moissac and Castelsarrasin?
In the Hérault, are the stakes?
Kléber Mesquida, the outgoing socialist president is seeking a new mandate and relies on a very large majority, with elected officials in fourteen of the twenty-five cantons. The goal is to win the absolute majority and avoid making alliances to win the ballot.
Out of fifty councilor seats, twenty-eight are held by the majority (PS-DVG-PCF), the opposition is divided between eight ex-Saurelians – named after the former mayor (without label) of Montpellier Philippe Saurel -, seven elected various-right, six RN and close to Robert Ménard, as well as one elected from the center. “The RN will play a role of arbiter,” warns the political scientist. “Because this party is on an upward slope. And there is a possibility of tilting to the right. “
Pyrénées-Orientales: the left threatened?
In power for more than two decades, the left intends to stay in place. The outgoing majority (PS-PC-PRG), which presented a common list under the slogan “My department in common”, supports the current president (PS) Hermeline Malherbe. Note that two-thirds of the outgoing elected officials go back to battle.
But this election promises to be very close: the right and the National Rally are stubborn opponents and the current majority has failed to achieve a broad union of the left with the Greens, who will present their own candidates.
Audrey Sommazi
On the photo: The departmental council of Haute-Garonne, headquartered in Toulouse.
Credits: Hélène Ressayres-ToulÉco.
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