The phone rings with a blocked number. Anis Bouvard, a 29-year-old worker living in Haute-Savoie, had disappeared for three months: he changed his phone number, closed his Facebook account, left the local department of the National Rally (RN) party, and sought a new job. Struck speechless on July 2nd on the set of the Savoyard channel 8 Mont-Blanc, when asked about taxes, he remained silent for a very long time; a silence that went viral on social media.
Anis Bouvard is one of the novice candidates that the far-right party threw, unprepared, into the campaign for the legislative elections in June and July, before calling them “black sheep” and “casting errors.” He was one of the faces of the failure of Jordan Bardella’s “Matignon plan” announced well before the surprise dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9th. Many candidates found themselves running almost against their will, then ended up debating on TV shows for a day. Many candidates surprised everyone in the first round, only to lose their composure in one of the wildest – and often most traumatic – experiences of their lives.
Since then, many candidates have chosen to hide. For example, Paule Veyre de Soras, who represented the RN in the 1st district of Mayenne, defended herself in an interview on the evening of the first round on June 30th against accusations of being part of a racist and xenophobic party, saying she had a Jewish ophthalmologist and a Muslim dentist. The video has garnered half a million views, forcing Marine Le Pen to defend her candidates as “decent people” who represent France. However, quietly, the RN removed Jean-Michel Cadenas, the head of the RN federation of Mayenne and the longtime activist, who was the “boss” of Paule Veyre de Soras. She has since disappeared and does not respond to emails, having also changed her phone number.
Le Monde went in search of these candidates who were “thrown into the lion’s den” and suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Some, like Cyline Humblot, a magnetizer in Mirebeau-sur-Bèze, Burgundy, and a candidate in the 1st district of Côte-d’Or, cut off contact like dodging a telemarketing call, stating “Thanks, I’m not interested.” Cyline Humblot had stumbled on France 3 Dijon when asked about raising purchasing power, suggesting it could be done by “reducing immigration” without being able to back up her statement, in a sequence viewed millions of times.
