What's the purpose of Rickwaert's plan in "1932"?

I started watching Baron Noir, a French political TV show following Philippe Rickwaert, a distinguished and ambitious member of the French Socialist Party, and I can't figure what the purpose of his plan in episode 2 of the first season is.

While Rickwaert is on the verge of being defeated in the first round of a local election by a Communist/Green coalition, he organizes an attack to an electoral college in order to invalidate the elections.

The plan is carried out but, in the end, the elections are not invalidated and the results of that electoral college are just delayed and deemed irrelevant, as he wins the elections, but the plot makes it seem that this plan was decisive for this.

Is this true? Was this plan reallly necessary? Or is it just a plot device to show to the viewers how Machiavellian the protagonist is?

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Best Answer

The whole motto of Baron Noir is to make all the leftists go together, and win.

For this, for example the episode you talk about is called 1932. It was that year when the leftist parties in France gathered in a the Cartel des Gauches to win the general elections (they did not manage to form a government, but this led to the 1936 coalition that led Léon Blum to the presidency of the country.)

For this, my impression is that the intention of Rickwaert with this episode of violence is to have all the voters 'see' the threat of violence coming from the far right party, and hence vote for him in the 2nd round of the election. This can also include voters know about the incident during the 1st round voting day and increase the turnout of the election.