2018 Territoire De Belfort's 1st Constituency By-election
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The first round of a by-election was held in Territoire de Belfort's 1st constituency on 28 January 2018, with a second round on 4 February because no candidate secured a majority of votes in the first round. The by-election was called due to the invalidation of the election of Ian Boucard, candidate of The Republicans (LR), in the June 2017 legislative elections by the Constitutional Council on 8 December 2017, due to the distribution of misleading electoral leaflets by Boucard's campaign between the two rounds. The by-election was the first since the election of
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
as president, and marked the first confrontation between The Patriots and the National Front (FN) since
Florian Philippot Florian Philippot (; born 24 October 1981) is a French politician. He served as Vice President of the National Front from 2012 to 2017 before quitting the party to found The Patriots in September 2017, which has failed to win any representati ...
quit the FN to found his own party. In the first round on 28 January, Ian Boucard of The Republicans and Christophe Grudler of the
Democratic Movement Democratic Movement may refer to: *Brazilian Democratic Movement *Democratic Movement (France) *Democratic Movement (Israel) *Democratic Movement (Italy) *Democratic Italian Movement *Democratic Movement (San Marino) *Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzst ...
(MoDem) advanced to the second round, as they did in June 2017, with Boucard securing a far higher percentage of votes amid low turnout. Boucard won the second round of the by-election on 4 February by a margin of nearly 18 points.


Background

The night of the second round of the 2017 legislative election in Territoire de Belfort's 1st constituency on 18 June, Christophe Grudler, candidate of the
Democratic Movement Democratic Movement may refer to: *Brazilian Democratic Movement *Democratic Movement (France) *Democratic Movement (Israel) *Democratic Movement (Italy) *Democratic Italian Movement *Democratic Movement (San Marino) *Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzst ...
(MoDem), announced that he would file an appeal with the Constitutional Council appealing the election of Ian Boucard of The Republicans (LR). In particular, Grudler suspected that Boucard was responsible for the distribution of an electoral leaflet purporting to be from
La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...
(FI) and featuring imagery of
Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...
between the two rounds; the party subsequently confirmed that it was not responsible for the leaflet. On 8 December, the constitutional council resolved to annul the result of the election in the constituency, arguing that the distribution of 10,000 and 15,000 leaflets, respectively, purporting to be from La France Insoumise and the National Front (FN) by the campaign of Boucard – without the agreement of either party – would have been sufficient to influence enough voters in the constituency to vote differently than they might otherwise would have, and potentially produced a different result, given the small vote margin separating the candidates. As a result, a by-election was called within the constituency to fill the vacant seat. On 15 December 2017, the by-election was scheduled for 28 January 2018, with a second round on 4 February should no candidate secure a majority of votes in the first round. Candidates were required to declare their candidacies between 2 and 5 January. It was the first by-election since
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
was elected president, coinciding with the
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
in Val-d'Oise's 1st constituency held on the same day. Polling stations were open from 8:00 to 18:00 CET during both rounds.


Candidates

The first candidates to officially declare their candidacies were Ian Boucard for The Republicans, Christophe Grudler for the MoDem and
La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...
(REM), Yves Fontanive for
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(LO), and Jonathan Vallart for the Popular Republican Union (UPR), with Jean-Raphaël Sandri invested again by the National Front. The left-of-centre parties discussed the possibility of a union to present a single candidate, with these discussions ultimately resulting in a union candidacy led by Anaïs Beltran for La France Insoumise, supported by the
Citizen and Republican Movement The Citizen and Republican Movement ( French: ''Mouvement républicain et citoyen'') is a left-wing political party in France. The party replaced the Citizens' Movement (''Mouvement des citoyens'', MDC) in 2002. The previous party was founded b ...
(MRC) and
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(PCF), while the
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(PS) nominated Arthur Courty as its candidate, and
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(EELV) nominated Vincent Jeudy, who received 6.5% of the vote in the department's other constituency during the 2017 legislative elections. Julie Kohlenberg received the investiture of
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(DLF), and
Sophie Montel Sophie Montel (born 22 November 1969 in Montbéliard) is a French politician. Member of the Franche-Comté Regional Council and later regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté since 1998. She contested the 2018 Territoire de Belfort's 1st ...
, a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
(MEP) who joined
Florian Philippot Florian Philippot (; born 24 October 1981) is a French politician. He served as Vice President of the National Front from 2012 to 2017 before quitting the party to found The Patriots in September 2017, which has failed to win any representati ...
in leaving the FN to form The Patriots, within which she serves as vice president, also contested the by-election. On 9 January 2018, the
Union of Democrats and Independents The Union of Democrats and Independents (, , UDI) is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in France, political party in France and former electoral alliance founded on 18 September 2012 on the basis of the UDI and Independents group, e ...
(UDI) announced its support for Ian Boucard, candidate of The Republicans (LR), with UDI deputy Michel Zumkeller, who represents the neighboring constituency, not having faced a LR opponent in the June 2017 legislative elections.


Campaign

Numerous politicians visited the constituency ahead of the by-election in support of their parties' candidates. On 18 January, Christian Jacob, president of the LR group in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
, visited the constituency in support of Boucard, as did deputy
Annie Genevard Annie Marguerite Alice Genevard (; née Tharin, 7 September 1956) is a French politician who has served as Ministry of Agriculture (France), Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty in the successive governments of Prime Minister of France, P ...
. On 19 January, MoDem minister
Jacqueline Gourault Jacqueline Gourault (; née Doliveux, born 20 November 1950) is a French politician who served as Minister of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities in the governments of successive Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean C ...
and president of the MoDem group in the National Assembly
Marc Fesneau Marc Fesneau (; born 11 January 1971) is a French politician of the Democratic Movement (France), Democratic Movement (MoDem) who has represented the Loir-et-Cher's 1st constituency, 1st constituency of the Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, depa ...
visited in support of Grudler, followed by Philippot in support of Montel and FN deputy
Gilbert Collard Gilbert Georges Jean Camille René Collard (; born 3 February 1948) is a French writer, barrister and politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019. A member of the National Rally (RN) until 2022, he was a member of ...
and mayor of
Hénin-Beaumont Hénin-Beaumont (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of Franc about east of Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Lens. History The commune came into existence in 1970, the r ...
Steeve Briois Steeve Briois (; born 28 November 1972) is a French politician. In 2017, he was interim leader of the National Front. In 2014, he was elected mayor of Hénin-Beaumont and a member of the European Parliament. From 2011 to 2014, he was general-se ...
in support of Sandri on 20 January, with Sébastien Chenu visiting later.
Alexis Corbière Alexis Corbière (; born 17 August 1968) is a French politician. He has been member of the National Assembly for the 7th constituency of the Seine-Saint-Denis department since 2017. Corbière was also a spokesperson for La France Insoumise an ...
visited in support of Beltran on 24 January, as did
Clémentine Autain Clémentine Autain (; born 26 May 1973) is a French politician and journalist who has represented Seine-Saint-Denis's 11th constituency in the National Assembly since the 2017 French legislative election. Autain is the daughter of singer Yvan ...
, followed by
François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...
and
Christophe Castaner Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under President Emmanuel Macron. He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman (''délég ...
in a joint meeting in support of Grudler on 25 January.
Boris Vallaud Boris Vallaud (; born 25 July 1975) is a French politician who has represented the 3rd constituency of the Landes department in the National Assembly since the 2017 election. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he became president of the ...
was the only Socialist to visit in support of Courty. David Cormand,
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (; born 7 March 1961), sometimes referred to by his initials NDA, is a French politician serving since 2008 as president of the minor party Debout la France. He was its only member in the National Assembly (France), Nationa ...
and
François Asselineau François Asselineau (, born 14 September 1957) is a French politician and an Inspector General for finances. Asselineau was a member of the Rally for France (RPF) and UMP before creating his own political party the Popular Republican Union (U ...
also visited to support the candidates of their respective parties. A debate co-hosted by Catherine Eme-Ziri of France 3 Franche-Comté and Emilie Pou of France Bleu Belfort Montbéliard between Boucard, Grudler, Sandri, Montel, Beltran, and Courty was broadcast live online on 12 January, before being shown on "Dimanche en Politique" on France 3 Franche-Comté on 14 January. Philippe Piot, journalist for ''
L'Est Républicain ''L'Est Républicain'' (; ) is a daily regional French newspaper based in Nancy, France. ''L'Est Républicain'' was established in 1889 by Léon Goulette, a French Republican. The newspaper was founded on the grounds of ''anti- Boulangisme'' ...
'' in Belfort, was also present at the debate. At the public meeting on 18 January with Jacob and Genevard, Boucard announced he would sue Grudler for calling him a "cheater" and "fraudster" over the distribution of leaflets by LR activists purporting to be from La France Insoumise and the National Front (which resulted in the invalidation of the election by the constitutional council). The hearing was held on 25 January, the same day as the visit of Bayrou and Castaner in support of Grudler. At the hearing, Boucard's lawyer accused Grudler of distributing "defamatory and injurious" electoral leaflets that alleged he had committed "outright electoral fraud" and a "robbery" during the campaign in June, and further added that Grudler's campaign distorted the decision of the constitutional council. The defense lawyer stood by the characterization, emphasizing that the constitutional council ruled in favor of Grudler's challenge and invalidated the election in June. Boucard, along with mayor of
Belfort Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort. Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
Damien Meslot Damien Meslot (born 11 November 1964 in Belfort) is a French politician and a member of The Republicans. He represented Territoire de Belfort's 1st constituency in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2017, and has served as the mayor of Belfor ...
(who was also accused of "robbery"), sought €500 in damages in the case, which was dismissed on 8 February, after the by-election. Boucard and Meslot were ordered to pay Grudler €1,000 and cover legal costs associated with the case. The by-election was the first electoral challenge on the far-right between The Patriots and the National Front, with Montel, the former president of the FN group in the regional council of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...
and a currently-serving MEP, having been a prominent member of the National Front within the region before she joined Philippot's party. However, she does not reside within the constituency. Controversial posts by Sandri on social media were discovered by French media, including a tweet evoking the "problem" of removal of "
transsexual A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...
ism" from the list of mental illnesses. A report in ''
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'' published a week before the first round uncovered the alleged Facebook account of the FN candidate, connected to several FN officials and apparent family members and with the same date of birth and location, under the name of "JR Alexandre". Though Sandri denied the account was his when questioned about it, and said that the "journalist and Sophie Montel are in cahoots", posts by the account were removed the following day. Among the activities of the account were a number of likes on anti-abortion pages, support for
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ism, jokes about the Nazis, and several images of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
, including one used as the account's profile image. In a statement, Montel denounced Sandri's behavior and support for "authoritarian regimes", demanding that
Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...
"firmly condemn" the FN candidate in the constituency. In the first round on 28 January, Boucard led Grudler by 12 percentage points, reversing the order in June. Beltran lagged well behind with 11.62% of the vote, followed by Sandri, who fell to 7.52% of the vote. While the race between Sandri and Montel was closely watched, the latter ultimately garnered only 1.99% of the vote. Socialist candidate Arthur Courty received 2.60% of the vote, an extremely low score compared to the party's score of 9.10% in the June 2017 legislative elections. A debate between the two rounds was broadcast on France Bleu Belfort Montbéliard between 18:30 and 19:00 CET on 1 February, co-hosted with Philippe Piot, journalist for ''L'Est Républicain''. Boucard was re-elected by a large margin in the second round on 4 February, securing 58.93% of the vote against 41.07% for Grudler.


2017 election result


2018 by-election result


References


External links


Debate broadcast online on 12 JanuaryDebate recorded on 1 FebruaryResults of past legislative by-elections from the Ministry of the Interior
{{By-elections to the 15th National Assembly of France Territoire January 2018 in France February 2018 in France