The Sequano-Dionysians are called to the polls on June 20 and 27 to renew the Departmental Council. Historical stronghold of the left, can the department switch to the right? The question is valid. Candidates from Seine-Saint-Denis were debating on the antenna of France 3 Île-de-France on Monday.
On June 20 and 27, the 765,174 voters, according to figures from the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture, are called to vote to renew their Departmental Council. 42 advisers sit on it. The total budget is over 2 billion euros. In its competences: the management of schools, colleges, early childhood, the payment of the RSA or the management of water and road maintenance.
► REPLAY. Review the debate of candidates for departmental elections in Seine-Saint-Denis:
First theme addressed during this debate: employment and training. Philippe Dallier candidate LR-UDI, wants “give everyone a chance to get by. It requires training”. He thus wishes to fight against academic failure and promote support.
Stéphane Troussel, PS-Union candidate for the lefts and current president of the department, says he wants to double the insertion credits to increase them to 50 million euros. He wants the renationalization of the RSA, which currently costs the department a quarter of the budget. “I do not accept that young people are largely forgotten by the current crisis. France is one of the rare countries not to have a social income for young people”, did he declare.
Patrice Anato, LREM candidate and deputy in the department, does not think that the renationalization of the RSA is a solution. He would like “a contribution of the State on the budget so that the department continues to assume this responsibility”. He wants to increase training for young people and job seekers.
The candidate of the National Gathering, Sébastien Jolivet, notes a mismatch between the job offers offered (jobs that are too qualified according to him) and the population.
“In place of Mr. Troussel, before asking for money from the State, I would ask to apply the law and to expel the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Seine-Saint-Denis. many of the evils of Seine-Saint-Denis, there is the fact that the State does not know the number of inhabitants in Seine-Saint-Denis. We must cut off all the suction pumps of immigration “, did he declare.
For Bally Bagayoko, LFI candidate, the state must return the money it owes to the department: “The State owes 2 billion euros as part of the transfer of powers”. He would like to adopt a plan for childcare and commit financial means to construction resources in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Finally, Fabien Gay, the PCF candidate, speaks of a sum of 3.5 billion euros. He stressed that only “two departments have departmental nurseries. Val-de-Marne and Seine-Saint-Denis are the communist heritage”. He also wants “to fight so that the companies which act hire Sequano-Dionysians”, support the social and solidarity economy and create a departmental agency for professional integration.
Youth measures
Another theme discussed during this debate: the situation of young people. With a proposal that divides, the creation of a young RSA. LFI candidate Bally Bagayoko wants autonomy allowance “to facilitate the first stages of life” and says he wants to allocate a billion euros in colleges. These establishments fall within the competence of the departments for infrastructures.
Patrice Anato, LREM candidate, wants a universal activity income for young people: “a right which accompanies the young person until he fits professionally, accompanied by a right to make mistakes”. He would also like the creation of establishments of excellence in the department.
Sébastien Jolivet, RN candidate, wants above all to develop apprenticeship. “The department must act to promote learning and manual work”, he said. He spoke out for a young RSA “within the framework of apprenticeship”. He also touched on the subject of security in colleges. He would like a plan of one billion euros called “secu-colleges” to see the light of day.
The current president of the department, Stéphane Troussel (PS – Union des Gauches), wants to experience the young RSA by affirming that France is “one of the only countries in the European Union which has not extended its social minima to young people. It is time to make this proposal”. He would like to launch an experiment for young people in training or students for a limited period.
While many candidates have deplored the degradation of colleges in Seine-Saint-Denis, the latter wants to put 1 billion euros, in particular on the renovation of buildings and defends its balance sheet and the creation of 26 colleges: “We are the department which has created the most new colleges”, did he declare.
His right-wing and center-right opponent, Philippe Dallier (LR-UDI), rejects the idea of a young RSA but wants “put the package on training, not pay allowances”. He points to the financing of the young RSA while “the department is the most indebted in the Île-de-France”.
According to him, security in colleges, but also in their surroundings, is a problem and he would like the Departmental Council to fight against drug trafficking and propose to create prevention teams that could intervene at the request of school heads. .
Fabien Gay, candidate of the Communist Party, supports a plan of one billion euros to renovate and build colleges. He would like to finance a computer for each secondary school student who enters 6th year, strengthen the Imagine R card and build an observatory to fight against all forms of discrimination.
21 cantons, 112 pairs
For these elections, 112 mixed pairs, made up of a woman and a man and their deputies come forward to win in the 21 cantons of the department.
The department is currently in the hands of the socialist Stéphane Troussel who is finishing his second term. In the previous elections, the left won 12 cantons, 7 for the PS-EELV-PRG-MGC alliance and 5 for the Left Front against 9 for the right and the center. The Front National (RN) was not elected, beaten in the only canton where he had been able to qualify for the second round.
A communist and socialist stronghold …
Since the creation of the department in 1968, Communists then Socialists have succeeded at its head. The Gaullist or liberal right has never taken control of this territory crossed by many fractures, social, economic but which is today in full transformation. New neighborhoods like the Saint-Ouen Docks have sprung up. HLM bars have been razed, a large AP-HP hospital could see the light of day, the Regional Council has moved there. Not to mention the Stade de France inaugurated on January 28, 1998 by Jacques Chirac or the 2024 Olympics which will be hosted largely on the grounds of 93.
Today the department which has 1,632,677 inhabitants is still one of the poorest in France but it tends to show a very different face from the clichés of “9-3”, attracting a new population, whose vote is no longer necessarily to the left. Witness the last municipal elections.
… who could switch to the right
Can the right thus win the departmental elections? Here is the stake of his elections. The duel could be close. Several cantons are likely to overturn the majority given the breakthrough of right-wing votes in 2020:
The canton of Saint-Ouen currently on the right where the former mayor William Delannoy, UDI, and the current socialist mayor Karim Bouamrane, will clash.
The canton of Aubervilliers where the brand new UDI mayor, Karine Franclet, would like to win with her victory over the Communists in the municipal elections in 2020.
The canton of Noisy-le-Grand could also overturn the majority. Shortly beaten 6 years ago, the current mayor Brigitte Marsigny (LR) and Eric Allemon (UDI) are determined to take their revenge on the outgoing duo Emmanuel Constant (PS) and Frédérique Denis (EELV).
Two other cantons are to be watched, that of Tremblay in France and that of Sevran-Villepinte.
“The Union of the Left”
Right and left have refined their strategy. Stéphane Troussel chose him as the “Union of the Left”, described as historic in view of the fratricidal struggles between socialists and communists in the history of this department.
To counter the rise of the right and the crumbling of the voices of the left, the socialists, the ecologists of EELV, the Radicals of the left, Générations.s and the Gauche Républicaine et Socialiste (GRS) made a joint list in the first round in all 21 cantons.
With the Communist Party, agreements have been signed “on a case-by-case basis” in 15 cantons. In Saint-Ouen, a canton currently on the right, the socialist mayor Karim Bouamrane presents himself with the communist Emilie Lecroq. In Aubervilliers, it is a socialist and communist duo which presents itself to counter the right.
PS and PCF will only clash in constituencies where the right is not likely to win as in Saint-Denis or Pantin for example.
France Insoumise is not part of this “Union of the left”. Nevertheless, the Insoumis made an alliance with the PCF on the constituency of Tremblay-Montfermeil. The tandem is made up of Dominique Dellac (PCF) and Pierre Laporte (LFI). A tandem supported by Stéphane Troussel where the Union des gauches list “did not present a candidate. Explanation: 6 years ago in this canton, Jordan Bardella, head of the RN list at the regional level, came first in the first round.
On the right, from municipal to departmental
The right and the center are today at the head of 9 cantons. Two more, and they could win the departmental elections.
“Riding the municipal wave“, here is the strategy of the LR, the UDI, and the Centrists in Seine-Saint-Denis. Among the 112 pairs, 9 are LR or UDI mayors. At the last municipal, the towns of Aubervilliers, Bondy or Neuilly- sur-Marne have changed. Today, the Republican Brigitte Marsigny in Noisy-le-Grand, the Centriste Karine Franclet in Aubervilliers or Pierre-Yves Martin (DVD) reelected in the first round of the municiaples in Livry-Gargan hope to grow their electoral dynamics by presenting themselves in their respective cantons.
The RN presents 15 pairs or 30 candidates. Its preferred cantons are Drancy and Tremblay-en-France.
Finally, “Common House”, the LREM list presents candidates in only 8 cantons.
Last unknown and not the least, abstention. Seine-Saint-Denis traditionally votes little. In 2015, abstention reached 65.5% in the second round.
The debate on France 3 Paris-Île-de-France
On our set: Stéphane Troussel (Union des Gauches) candidate for La Courneuve
Philippe Dallier (LR) candidate for Bondy
Patrice Anato (LREM) candidate for Noisy-le-Grand
Sébastien Jolivet (RN) candidate for the canton of Montreuil-1
Bally Bagayoko (LFI) candidate for canton of Saint-Denis-1
Fabien Gay (PCF) candidate for Blanc-Mesnil
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