Martial Saddier, the president of Les Républicains (LR) of the Haute-Savoie regional council, has filed a complaint for death threats received on social media. The threats allegedly occurred between the two rounds of the recent legislative elections. Saddier took this action on Friday, reporting the incidents to the Annecy police station.
According to a representative of the regional council, the complaint was filed against an unknown person ('X') and concerns comments made on Facebook, which have since been hidden. The threats are believed to be linked to Saddier's support for Antoine Valentin, a candidate endorsed by Éric Ciotti, who had the backing of far-right parties RN and Reconquest.
In a Facebook post dated July 5, Saddier stated, 'In a personal capacity and I will only speak about my constituency where I had the honor of being a deputy, I support Mr. Antoine Valentin.' This endorsement came in the midst of a contentious electoral race in the 3rd constituency of Haute-Savoie.
During the first round of voting, Antoine Valentin led with 39.68% of the votes, followed by Christelle Petex, a diverse right-wing candidate, who garnered 32.37%. Gérard Vez of the New Popular Front came in third with 24.01% and subsequently withdrew in favor of Petex to block the far-right candidate.
In the second round, Christelle Petex secured 56.19% of the votes, winning the election to the National Assembly. The political tension surrounding this election, especially with the involvement of far-right parties, has evidently led to severe backlash on social media, culminating in death threats against Saddier.
