Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, won the second round of the legislative elections in the 1st constituency of Haute-Loire, on Sunday, July 7, against the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) candidate, Alexandre Heuzey. A leading figure in the Républicains (LR, right) party, Wauquiez was previously an MP for this constituency from 2004 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2017.
The 49-year-old former minister was credited with 60.51% of the vote with 88% of ballots counted in the 1st constituency of this rural department. He was trailed in the first round by Heuzey.
In the first round, Wauquiez had come out on top (36.80%), with a narrow lead over the far-right candidate (34.18%), and the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP, left coalition) candidate, Celline Gacon (18.66%). After qualifying for the second round in third place, the environmentalist withdrew her candidacy to block the far right without however calling for a vote for Laurent Wauquiez.
The former LR president – who has ambitions to be the "natural candidate" of the right for the 2027 presidential election – had seen the announcement of his candidacy for these legislative elections crushed by that of LR leader Eric Ciotti who, at the same time on June 11, on the set of TF1, unveiled his alliance with the far right. The agreement was disputed by the party's leaders, including Wauquiez, who defends an "independent" line for LR somewhere between Emmanuel Macron's centrist party "and the leap into the unknown of the RN."
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.