Legislative elections polarize France beyond Paris

Avignon (France), June 28 (EFE).- On the eve of unexpected legislative elections that will decide the future of France, the parties are fighting for the terrain in Avignon (south), far from the centers of Paris, where the far-right National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, is favorite.

CAMERA: RAQUEL FERNÁNDEZ

STATEMENTS IN FRENCH OF:

AHMED MAHDANI, SHOPKEEPER AND VOTER OF THE NATIONAL GROUPING:

"I am Moroccan and I have lived here in Le Pontet for 30-35 years and I have been in France for 57 years because I arrived in the 1970s. Now with the elections I would like Joris to go up."

"The heart. It's not me talking, it's the heart. My children are going to vote all for Joris (mayor of Le Pontet, of the National Grouping)."

BRUNO AND JOSIANE, A MARRIED COUPLE VOTING FOR THE NATIONAL GROUPING:

"We see the decline of France in terms of identity. We love everyone, but when it's too much, it's too much. At one point there is an invasion, because it's the truth, and people don't want to adapt and hate us even more. So I try to resist.

FROM THE CANDIDATE FOR THE NATIONAL GROUPING, CATHERINE JAOUEN:

"They tell me that they are going to vote for me and that they are fed up with what is happening today in France, that they are counting on us to restore order in France. And they also thank me for the hope that we bring them. Because, in fact, we have tackled the problems head-on, we have set out our program, which is going to affect their daily lives."

"We want to have an absolute majority so that we can implement our program well and so that Jordan Bardella can be prime minister".

(EFE journalist asks what will happen if Bardella does not get an absolute majority) "Jordan Bardella will refuse to take over as prime minister. Because we will not be able to implement the policies we want to bring to France today, all the measures we want to take. So we will continue to do our job as deputies. We will vote for and against and so on. But it will be different. Jordan Bardella will not be prime minister, so there won't be a prime minister of the National Rally, if we don't have an absolute majority."

BY NADINE, VOTER OF THE NEW POPULAR FRONT:

EFE journalist notes that it is possible that the National Rally will be in the lead after the first round: "It is a catastrophe. My parents came from Spain fleeing Franco and now we are going to see fascists in France. I never thought this would happen, but unfortunately I'm afraid it will".

FROM THE CANDIDATE OF THE NEW POPULAR FRONT, RAPHAËL ARNAULT:

"The main challenge is very simple: to defeat the extreme right. That is what moves us here, in this union of the left, in this desire to bring together all the living forces, associations, politicians and unions. It is a struggle for survival, I would like to call it political. In the first case, and then socially in the second, it is the extreme right that really comes to power. And the second challenge, which is not contradictory, but also linked to this, is that in addition to defeating the extreme right, we have the opportunity to govern in France. With the left coalition, we have this opportunity to finally implement our programs in reverse of what has been done in the last 10, 15, 20, 30 years, with liberal policies that have put us in this situation, that have caused these economic crises. Plus the social crisis, plus the political crisis in which we find ourselves. So that's, that's what we want to do today."

"The anti-fascists are the violent ones, even though we fight right against the violence of the extreme right, the feminists are the real sexists, the anti-racists are labeled anti-Semites."

FROM THE CANDIDATE OF THE NEW POPULAR FRONT, PHILIPPE PASCAL:

"In fact, what happens is that I was initially proposed for the constituency, but as when I left France Insoumise, Mr. Bompard and Mélenchon did not like it. So I'm a bit blacklisted and it's difficult to run because I still have the most radical opposition from France Insoumise and that's complicated for me. But now I have the whole left behind me."

AND FROM THEATER ACTRESS AND LEFT-WING VOTER, CRISTINE:

"We are going to have the Avignon Festival, which is recognized worldwide, we are a showcase for theater and we know that we must not give up because we have seen and it is important to show that there is a resistance in France as there was before."