What should have been an ordinary legislative by-election in Tarn-et-Garonne has become a laboratory for the union of the right. On Sunday, October 12, the 94,500 voters of the department’s first constituency are called to the polls to decide between the two qualified candidates in the second round.
Pierre-Henri Carbonnel, candidate of the UDR, the party of Éric Ciotti (ally of RN), came first last Sunday with 29.25% of the votes, against the socialist Cathie Bourdoncle, who is attributed 24.3%, supported by the Radical Left Party.
Farewell, Brigitte Barèges names her successor
This early vote is due to the rejection of the campaign accounts of Brigitte Barèges (UDR) at the beginning of July, punishable by one year of disqualification and automatic resignation. Mayor of Montauban for 20 years, this lawyer by training joined the UMP and then LR, combining her local mandate with that of deputy until 2012, before being severely defeated during the pink wave. On several occasions he embarrassed his party with controversial statements, particularly against gay marriage.
A supporter of the extreme right, she naturally followed Éric Ciotti in 2024, when he founded the UDR and signed an agreement with the RN. It was under this label that he dethroned the socialist Valérie Rabault after twelve years in office and regained his seat at the Bourbon Palace.
LR and UDR each invest one candidate
In the middle of summer, on July 28, the UDR announced the inauguration of its member, Pierre-Henri Carbonnel, a farmer in his thirties, municipal councilor of the rural commune of Saint-Cirq, who was until then Brigitte Barèges’ deputy. This former rugby hopeful forms a candidacy with Marie-Claude Berly, former first deputy who became mayor of Montauban and who still works for LR.
On the same day, the LR National Investiture Commission investigated Bernard Pécou, commercial director, municipal councilor of Montauban and departmental councillor.
A few hours later, Brigitte Barèges expressed her support for the Carbonnel-Berly tandem on social networks. It plays on the political affiliation of the mayor of Montauban. “She has always remained faithful to her political family, Los Republicanos. Her commitment is constant, her direction clear,” he says.
The failure of the LR candidate in the first round
The national LR authorities then decided to exclude Marie-Claude Berly so as not to create confusion among voters. “She makes the decision to run against the political party to which she claims to belong. She makes the decision to run with the RN label, which is a political competitor,” the party’s departmental secretary told France 3.
Bruno Retailleau, president of LR, surrenders and participates in a meeting with his candidate in Montauban on October 3, but Bernard Pécou ultimately falls behind almost 12 points behind Pierre-Henri Carbonnel. Third in the voting, it is impossible for him to appear in the second round because he has not reached the threshold of 12.5% of registered voters.
“It is not a voice for the left,” declares Retailleau
The same afternoon of the defeat, Sunday, October 5, the LR federation of Tarn-et-Garonne published a press release inviting “according to the historical political line (…) each voter to vote with their soul and conscience.”
Two days later, Bruno Retailleau went further when he was questioned about his party’s voting instructions during an interview with Europe1-CNews. “It is not a voice for the left,” he explained that “this is our line,” hoping that “the voters will decide,” without asking for a barrier to the extreme right.
During the day, Éric Ciotti sent an open letter to the resigning Minister of the Interior in which he “solemnly” asked him to call a vote for his candidate. “I cannot imagine that the lack of support on their part and the abstention of LR could cause the victory of a deputy supported by the Communist Party.”
The head of the UDR came to support his candidate this Thursday, October 9, in the prefecture of Tarn-et-Garonne, confident in his chances of victory and appreciating the words of the resigned Interior Minister. “The walls are falling. Unity and union are evident,” he declared, according to comments collected by La Dépêche.
The UDR-RN alliance also has this Sunday a postponement of the votes of Brigitte Poma, departmental leader of RN until the end of June, who dissented and obtained 7.34% of the votes in the first round.
Constitution of a republican front from the LFI to the EPR
Valérie Rabault, natural candidate of the left in this first constituency of Tarn-et-Garonne, announced on October 28 that she would not run. Like Brigitte Barèges, who named her successor, the former president of the finance commission of the National Assembly presented a candidate: Cathie Bourdoncle, housing advisor and PS elected to the departmental council of the canton of Montauban.
Supported by the Radical Left Party and regional president Carole Delga, she was unable to obtain enough votes in the first round due to the presence of the Generation activist. Samir Chikhi, supported in particular by EELV, LFI and the PCF, to whom 10.49% of the votes are attributed. He called to vote for Cathie Bourdoncle to block the extreme right. The same goes for Catherine Simonin-Bénazet (Renaissance, 5.3%).
The complex national political context
This duel is observed all the more as it takes place in a context of political instability linked to the resignation of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. The president of the Union of Rights, Éric Ciotti, believes that an alliance between the Republicans and the National Rally during the dissolution of the National Assembly, called by the RN, is a “unique opportunity.”
The first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, the head of the environmentalists Marine Tondelier and the national secretary of the communists, Fabien Roussel, advocate coexistence with “the appointment of a prime minister and a left-wing and ecological government that allows the construction of majorities in the Assembly.”
Source: BFM TV
