Now the results of the second round of presidential elections are known. If France as a whole opted to renew Emmanuel Macron for a second five-year term, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, and Martinique and Guyana opted to put his opponent at the helm. Marine Le Pen also achieved her best result in Guadeloupe, receiving almost 70% of the votes cast. A vote that is not limited to expressing disapproval from the outgoing President.
It was not necessary to be a great strategist to diagnose Marine Le Pen’s first position after the election this Saturday, April 23, in Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, the elements of the first round already left it foresee. At most, the order of magnitude of the score can still surprise. But it would be wrong to make it just the expression of a protest vote, a simple revenge by the “anti-vax” or a response to the problems of the suspended. A thesis that is easy to comment on, but which burdens an entire socio-political reality that we must now have grasped.
First, there is a deep gulf between Guadeloupe’s political elite and the population. The higher level of abstention in departmental and regional elections than in presidential elections is intended to show Guadeloupeans’ disinterest in anything the local political class might have to offer them. Of course, elected officials were content to announce their election without delving too deeply into the widening abstention gap.
But they know. Her late start in dealing with the health and social conflict and her weak commitment in the presidential election campaign prove this. Always on the lookout for current trends, they often prefer to wait for the expression of these trends to take a stand, just to always be on the right track. And some have been strangely silent during this presidential election, knowing they will then have to manage the upcoming general election.
Press Conference of the Guadeloupe Elected Officers, Monday 29 November 2020 • ©Ch. Danquin
In fact, all show their deep disconnection from the reality of a territory they ignore. But they are probably not the only ones who have failed to understand this area and its real concerns. The preference of some trade union and political movements in favor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon could indicate that the leader of France Insoumise had acquired a real personal aura during the first round of voting in Guadeloupe.
©EM. Golabkan
But it is clear that Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s order not to mention Marine Le Pen’s name has not found an echo in Guadeloupe. This means that this constituency is not malleable. Neither the leaders of the organizations of the social movement nor those of the patriotic camp could have imagined that Guadeloupe could vote so overwhelmingly in favor.
We must therefore descend from the pedestals on which everyone had perched and believe in their own feelings that they benefited from the legitimacy to speak on behalf of the Guadeloupeans.
On January 24, 2009, more than 60,000 Guadeloupeans demonstrated in the streets “kont la pwofitasyon”.
A time to get acquainted with the 2009 choir’s “nou” proclaiming that “la Gwadloup sé tan nou, la Gwadloup sé pa ta yo”, a “nou” and a “yo” that we an this April 24, 2022 having trouble 13 years later to decipher. In the name of this ‘nou’ and this ‘yo’, some felt they had to prevent Marine Le Pen from developing during her campaign in Guadeloupe, while she is now more legitimate than them through the ballot box.
Perhaps this action against them has partly contributed to some voters supporting them. Indeed, many are those who have openly expressed their opposition to this action by the nationalist parties. The answer can be heard in the ballot box below.
Press conference by nationalist organizations after Marine Le Pen’s visit to Guadeloupe • ©Rodrigue Lami
But in this “Nou” there are all those who find it difficult to recognize themselves in an agricultural policy dictated by Europe, which is gradually reshuffling the cards for sugar or banana production, turning the ACP countries against the interests of the West Indian producers preferred. There are also all the fishermen whose activities we want to limit so as not to affect the activities of our non-European neighbours.
Even as Europe helps build roads and structures, it sends back the Titans who could have driven there to the parking lot. This was repeated by the candidate of the Rassemblement National and her supporters when the President of the Republic, through the voice of his ministers and local representatives, explained to them that it was necessary to adapt to European desires. At least that’s what they heard locally.
©D Querin
And then there are those in this “Nou” who found it difficult to be tutored by a young foreign minister through their elected officials, as if they were spoiled children of the republic.
They found it difficult to hear talk of “domiciliation” entrusted to elected officials they did not trust.
They also struggle to adapt to all the societal reforms that complement each other, apparently according to the media, but challenge their moral scheme without anyone asking their opinion. Furthermore, if you denied them, you risked being labeled as backward. So they fell silent and voted or abstained.
Ballot slipped into a ballot box during an election in Guadeloupe • ©Eddy M. Golabkan
And since we have never failed to remind them that their vote hardly counts when too clear a majority emerges at national level, they are only reminded in more uncertain elections, that is, freed from any considerations that those who hold them have thought held the keys to the “Nou” imposed on them.
At the bottom of the ballot box, they reiterated an election that has made local and national politicians on all sides, but also unions, the ‘yo’ of a ‘nou’ that everyone must now learn about if they want one day to get their votes.
In a way, it is time for an update that the too tight campaign of the general elections will not allow, but that one day must be implemented, instead of going from misunderstanding to misunderstanding, without daring to go further.
©L. Gaydu