Manuel Valls, a candidate invested by La République en Marche ( LRM) in the 5th constituency of French people living abroad (Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and Monaco), was eliminated in the first round on Sunday 5 June.

The ex-socialist came third with 15% of the vote. He is largely preceded by the candidate of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), Renaud Le Berre, who came first (27%) but also and above all by Stéphane Vojetta, the outgoing deputy and dissident candidate of LRM (25%)

The former Socialist Prime Minister admitted his defeat in a message posted on Twitter: “I take note of the results. (…) If dissent and division have sown confusion, I cannot ignore my score and the fact that my candidacy did not convince. (…) It is up to me lucidly to draw the consequences, ”he wrote on his social networks, before calling to block the second round of the Nupes candidate, Renaud Le Berre, who came first. according to his training, this fifth constituency of French people living abroad, which includes Spain, Portugal, Monaco, and Andorra and has around 120,000 registered voters.

The detail of the results of the election was not yet available on the website of the Ministry of the Interior.

Leaving Twitter

“Goodbye Twitter…” he added, before presumably closing his account which was no longer accessible on Sunday evening.

Several members of the left-wing Nupes alliance and in particular of La France insoumise (LFI) immediately rejoiced at the news, relying on Twitter, like LFI number two Adrien Quatennens, a photo of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and other parliamentarians waving “Good riddance” signs.

“Adios Manuel Valls”. “The left is indeed irreconcilable with neoliberalism, macronism, 49-3, and betrayal,” tweeted the environmental mayor of Grenoble, support of Nupes, Eric Piolle.

The investment of Mr. Valls by LRM had provoked the media dispute of the outgoing deputy, Stéphane Vojetta, who considered himself the natural candidate of the presidential party. He had immediately announced that he would be a candidate for his succession, and denounced the “parachuting and upheavals of the old world”. “The French people in the constituency deserve to be represented by a person for whom proximity, loyalty, and respect for the word given have value,” he added in his press release.

The formula was aimed without naming his competitor and his political versatility. In 2017, after his defeat in the primary of the left in view of the presidential election and the victory of Emmanuel Macron, Manuel Valls has re-elected deputy in the 1st constituency of Essonne, under the label of the majority presidential. He left his post in 2018 to run for mayor of Barcelona, but he failed – 13% of the vote – and had to settle for a position as a city councilor. Post which he also left to return to France in August 2021, as a columnist on RMC and BFM-TV.

Stéphane Vojetta, claims to have “put down [his] suitcases” in the constituency about twenty years ago. However, he only really occupied the seat from October 2021: a substitute for Samantha Cazebonne in the 2017 legislative elections, he had replaced her when she was elected to the Senate. At the beginning of May, he had expressed his conviction of being re-elected without worrying about his exclusion from LRM: “Once elected, I have no doubt that I will be reinstated in LRM or in another party. of the presidential majority. »

“I was nominated as a candidate by the presidential majority at the request of Emmanuel Macron,” insisted Mr. Valls, adding: “I am serene, this candidacy is a good synthesis of my journey between France and Europe. Spain. I want to convince voters that it is a chance for them to have a former prime minister with a strong voice to defend them. »