It is 8 p.m. on Sunday April 10 and, while the first presidential estimates are falling in the campaign headquarters, around sixty voters are still waiting to vote at the La Solidarité school (15e), an imposing city to the north of Marseille. Hedi Ramdane, the president of office 1587, municipal youth assistant, has just locked the gates and pushes the latest arrivals inside. All will vote before the office closes at 8:44 p.m.
In this working-class district, where Marseilles of the Muslim faith are in the majority and Ramadan is very popular, this late influx surprises even the elected official, originally from “Soli” and used to the office. “For these people to stay there when they should be breaking the fast, they are very motivated”, he slips, trying to speed up the votes. In the queue, women, men, young adults, display clear motivations. “We are not going to lie to each other, there are racists who present themselves. If Zemmour wasn’t a candidate, I wouldn’t be here,” assures Karim Rhali, a big guy of 18 who is voting for the first time. His friend Malek Seddi, 21, did not come to the 2021 regionals. Today, like Karim, he comes to vote Mélenchon. “He is the only one who is with the poorest. The only one who defended us when Zemmour and Le Pen attacked the Muslims”, he assures.
“In this campaign, there were very violent words said against our religion, our practices, our origins”, reveals in a soft voice Soraya Chachoua, 43, a school agent. Came several times during the day, she recoiled from waiting. But at 7:30 p.m., she stayed. And wait for an hour. “I have no choice, I have to vote”, she insists.
“An aggregate of reasons”
In 2017 at La Solidarité, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came out on top with 29% of the vote. This Sunday evening, it exceeds 66%. A score that could have even been higher. Behind the desk where the assessors are seated, a stack of envelopes is stored. “These are the votes of people who came spontaneously, without knowing that they first had to register on the electoral lists”, explains Hedi Ramdane. He opens an envelope at random. A Mélenchon bulletin appears.
Leader throughout Marseille, with 17,576 votes more than in 2017, the “rebellious” candidate was able to mobilize all strata of his electorate. But it is in working-class neighborhoods that it literally explodes its electoral ceilings, despite declining participation. 63% at Air-Bel (11e), 79.83% in Saint-Mayant at the foot of the Felix-Pyat housing estate (3e) whose offices also closed late, 84.24% in Font-Vert (14e). Cities of the north and east as impoverished areas of the hypercentre of which he is a deputy, have acclaimed Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
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