The Elections in Hautes-Alpes, 2024: Updated (Again)

In Hautes-Alpes, a department in the southeast Paca Région (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), the Center and Left parties have been holding steady in a trending-right region.  The largely rural area sends only two deputies to the National Assembly: the first district, centered around Briançon, has over 35,000 people, of whom 34,000 are in the town itself; in the second district, the town of Gap,has about 110,000 people, of whom nearly 107,000 are in the municipality.[1]  It is one of the least densely populated regions in France, centered around agriculture and a growing tourism business.  Both seats were, until the dissolution, held by Macron’s Renaissance party; both are at risk.

First District

Pascale Boyer of Ensemble joined Macron’s party in 2017, after a dispute over the way the local Socialist Party was being managed.  (See one of her opponents, below.)  In 2022, she won a second term against the Nupes candidate (Left Coalition, organized by Jean-Luc Mélenchon), but with only 199 votes, which came out to about 50.36% of the vote in the second round.[2] Nevertheless she came in the “first wave” of the investitures issued by the Presidential Majority after the dissolution, “a mark of confidence,” as she put it, “from our Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whom I support fully.”[3] (Her statement, by the way, was in line with the mostly vain attempt by leaders of the party to keep Attal front and center rather than Macron.)

In June 2023, Libération ran a damaging story (picked up by the regional newspaper) that she is “toxic” to work for–she is alleged to have a violent temper, she picks out scapegoats for the day or week, and so on.  Over thirty parliamentary assistants had left her employ (her response to this was that she hired college students for the summer on short-term contracts).  Beyond that, it was suggested, she really had not done much and had missed quite a few votes.[4]. And for good measure, she had recently hired a former deputy found guilty of sexual harassment of his assistants; she had hired him, she said, because of his expertise in renewables, a subject of hers in the Assembly.[5]

The Nouveau Front Populaire candidate in the district is Marie-José Allemand: age 54, a mother and a farmer (in business with her son), a longtime local volunteer in educational efforts to support small farmers rather than agribusiness. She has also been engaged in local politics for a long time, and is First Secretary of the Socialist Party in Hautes Alpes. Here she is in 2020 for the regional election, a familiar face with a consistent message that is also strongly environmental and embedded in the terrain. She is likely to be a strong contender.

The National Rally candidate is, to the surprise of many, a national figure of considerable stature, a “politologue” (politics specialist) and frequent commentator on television and in newspapers. Jérôme Sainte-Marie was born in Algeria in 1966; his parents moved to Nice–near Hautes Alpes, though not in it, which has led him to be described as a “parachutist” into the district. He went into Sciences Po and then did his military service in the information services. When he left he began working for Louis Harris polling, and finally in 2013 founded his own business, PollingVox, which did analyses for a number of political parties. He is the author of the award-winning Bloc contre Bloc (2020), which describes the current political scene and the collapse of the traditional parties. He was set on his current path, he says, when he heard Marine Le Pen’s inaugural speech in 2011 as head of the National Front. He found that he agreed with her views of the European Union and its threat to France’s sovereignty; he was also concerned by “the islamization of the public space” in France, which is one of the major issues of the National Rally. In 2022, after the National Assembly elections, PollingVox signed a contract with the RN, and Sainte-Marie took over the training of new cadres of the Party. He asked to be invested for this particular race.

His nomination was not without controversy among the party regulars in the area, because of his very recent adherence to the party, his celebrity, his usurpation of a constituency that looks promising. Eric Sarlin, a retired Marine, the RN candidate in 2022 (he came in a respectable third) was perhaps the most surprised of all. He had declared himself to be the candidate on June 11, though he admitted that he was still awaiting official word of his investiture. On June 12, he learned that Jérôme Sainte-Marie had been named, and that he was the suppléant (the person who takes over if the elected deputy cannot serve, through death, resignation, an assignment of more than six months, or the acceptance of a cabinet position, which seems to be the most frequent reason).  The local head of the party, Armel Brisson de la Messardière, said he had been hoping that Sarlin would be the local candidate, but “it’s Paris who decides,” adding, “he [Sainte-Marie] has less knowledge of the sector than Eric, but he was preferred because he is more of a heavyweight.”  Anyway, he added, “If Marine becomes president, Jérôme Sainte-Marie will undoubtedly be a minister.  And then Eric could sit [in the Assembly.]”[6]

The candidate of Les Républicains (not those with Ciotti) is Dorian Deininger, age 26, an engineer, and head of the Young Republicans in the Hautes Alpes. He grew up in Gap and is running to “represent the traditional values of the republican Right” and to provide an alternative “to the extreme Left and a parachuted candidate.” He did not wish to comment on Éric Ciotti, the president of Les Républicains, who has blown up his party.[7]

Update: after the first round, Sainte-Marie (RN) came in first with 38.24%, and Allemand (PS) came in second with 30.47. Pascale Boyer, the Ensemble candidate, came in with 22.58; she qualifies for the second round, but has stepped down.

Marie-José Allemand won.

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Header Image: https://c.ledauphine.com/elections/2024/06/16/hautes-alpes-fin-du-suspense-voici-les-dix-candidats-dans-les-hautes-alpes

[1] Insee report on populations. https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:8be322a7-02af-3d6f-bef7-85e3df3c811a

[2] All electoral results are available on the website of the Ministère de l’Intérieur.

[3] “Législatives: Pascale Boyer report officiellement en campagne,” Le Dauphiné libéré, June 12, 2024. https://c.ledauphine.com/elections/2024/06/12/legislatives-pascale-boyer-repart-officiellement-en-campagne

[4] Victor Boileau, “Management ‘toxique,’ colères et turn-over,” Libération, June 27, 2023. https://www.liberation.fr/politique/management-toxique-coleres-et-turn-over-la-deputee-renaissance-pascale-boyer-accusee-par-ses-collaborateurs-20230627_7HMN4D3ZTZFDLDJLBMVDTQEITU/?redirected=1; Justin Segui, “Épinglée pour son management, Pascale Boyer répond,” Le Dauphiné libéré, June 28, 2023. https://c.ledauphine.com/social/2023/06/28/hautes-alpes-epinglee-pour-son-management-pascale-boyer-repond

[5] “Pascale Boyer recrute un ancien député condamné pour harcèlement,” Le Dauphiné libéré, May 6, 2024.https://c.ledauphine.com/politique/2024/05/06/pascale-boyer-recrute-un-ancien-depute-condamne-pour-harcelement

[6] Baptiste Labarre, “Investiture RN: Eric Carlin rétrogradé au profit d’un parachuté,” Le Dauphiné libéré, June 12, 2024. https://c.ledauphine.com/elections/2024/06/12/investiture-rn-eric-sarlin-retrograde-au-profit-d-un-parachute

[7] “Dorian Deininger, candidat LR de la première circonscription,” Le Dauphiné libéré, June 14, 2024. https://c.ledauphine.com/elections/2024/06/14/dorian-deininger-candidat-lr-de-la-premiere-circonscription