With the results of France’s 2024 legislative elections now confirmed, the power and influence of the far-right agenda on the southeast of France is clearer than ever.
Following the second and final round of voting on Sunday 7th July, all nine seats representing the Alpes-Maritimes, the French department that surrounds the Principality of Monaco, have been claimed by right-wing parties.
Eric Ciotti has won the seat in first district or circonscription, which encompasses the city of Nice, with a 45% share of the vote by representing the Union de l’Extrême Droite (UXD), meaning the Union of the Far-Right.
In the second district, an area stretching between Grasse, Vence and Carros, the National Rally’s Lionel Tivoli took 63% of the vote.
Ciotti’s UXD ally Bernard Chaix achieved a 53% share in the third district and has been elected to represent the people of towns such as La Trinité, Saint-André-de-la-Roche and Falicon.
It had already been confirmed following the first round of voting that Alexandra Masson would represent the fourth district, which includes communes such as Menton, Beausoleil, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and Cap d’Ail, in the National Assembly. She achieved 56% of the vote.
See more: France: Political parties scramble to form alliances and block the far-right from power
Another UXD representative, Christelle d’Intorni, has won the seat for the fifth district, which extends up to the northernmost point of the department. She took just over 50% of the vote.
Bryan Masson of the National Rally also won a little over 50% of the vote in the sixth district, which encompasses the towns of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Villeneuve-Loubet, La Colle-sur-Loup and Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
The remaining three districts, all in the southwestern part of the department, were won by representatives of Les Républicains, France’s traditionally most popular right-wing party.
Eric Pauget will represent the seventh district, Alexandra Martin will head up the eighth and Michèle Tabarot has won the seat in the ninth district.
In many ways, the voice of the electorate is similar to that of the 2022 elections, yet the swing to the far-right from the right is more pronounced. The major difference is that French President Emmanuel Macron’s Together party won the third district two years ago, while the fifth district’s d’Intorni has followed Ciotti in making a switch from the Les Républicains party to the UXD. The other six districts retained their party allegiances.
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Photo source: Artem R., Unsplash