In this village of 1,500 inhabitants located near Niort (Deux-Sèvres), the finalists of the last elections had the same number of votes, in each ballot. At the town hall of Thénezay, the situation makes you smile.
“We counted, recounted all the ballots. The blanks, the dummies… We even entered all the votes into our computer system. And we still fall on the same score”, testifies this Monday Chantal Cornuault-Paradis. The unlabeled mayor of Thénezay (Deux-Sèvres) is having fun with the unusual situation she is facing.
At the end of the counting of the votes for the second round of the legislative elections, the two candidates for deputies have the same number of votes. 193 votes for the outgoing deputy Delphine Batho (NUPES) on one side. 193 for candidate Cécilia Rochefort on the other. Perfect equality.
Sunday evening, the assessors of the Thénezay polling station, in Deux-Sèvres, still had an air of deja vu. During the presidential election last April, the scenario was the same. Of the 990 voters registered on the electoral lists, 228 voted for outgoing President Emmanuel Macron and 228 for the Rassemblement National candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election. On April 24, for the second round, 340 votes cast go to Emmanuel Macron, 340 to Marine Le Pen.
“It makes you smile. It seems unbelievable but it’s still the third time it’s happened to us”, indicates the city councilor, elected in 2020. “I really can’t explain this situation to you. But I can assure you that we do not give any voting instructions to the inhabitants”, assure Chantal Cornuault-Paradis.
I can assure you that we do not give any voting instructions to the inhabitants.
Chantal Cornuault-Paradis, mayor of Thénezay (Deux-Sèvres)
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Another figure to remember from the Thénezay elections: that of abstention. It rose to 56.97% in the last legislative elections. A figure that challenges the mayor. “Abstention is very high here”, she laments. According to the elected official, the average age of her constituents is quite high, including “between 45 and 50 years old”. The Thenez population is mainly from rural areas.
In this constituency of Deux-Sèvres, the abstention rate in the second round of legislative elections is 52.35%. Outgoing deputy Delphine Batho (NUPES) was re-elected with 57.88% of the votes cast, beating Cécilia Rochefort (coalition “Ensemble!”) who won 42.12% of the votes.
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According to final figures from the Ministry of the Interior, nearly 53.79% of French people registered on the electoral lists did not take part in the ballot. It is up one point from the first round (52.49%), but below the 2017 record (57.36%).
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