Posted Apr 25, 2022, 4:31 PMUpdated on Apr 25, 2022, 5:31 PM
It is Jean-Luc Mélenchon who leads the game and he makes it known. Third man in the presidential election with nearly 22% of the votes , the leader of La France insoumise calls for the union of the various left-wing parties to weigh in during the June legislative elections. But the strict conditions it sets could cool some potential partners, primarily the Socialists.
Calling on the French to “Elect Prime Minister” during the ballot scheduled for June 12 and 19, Jean-Luc Mélenchon would need to win a majority in the National Assembly. It is in this sense that La France insoumise opened discussions last week with ecologists, communists and even the New Anti-Capitalist Party of Philippe Poutou.
The ball “is in the camp” of the PS
On the other hand, the Insoumis were slow to speak with the Socialist Party, their first meeting being scheduled for this Wednesday. Certainly, the national council of the PS adopted last Tuesday a resolution opening the door to discussions with all the forces of the left, including La France insoumise, but the initiative causes internal cringe.
The socialist senator Rachid Temal castigated a “submission to the LFI program” while the party’s former number one, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, denounced a “takeover bid on the left” by Jean-Luc Mélenchon: “It is not a coalition but a surrender,” he lamented.
At La France insoumise, it is estimated that “the ball is in the camp” of the PS: “The socialists, for the moment what we have said is that there was no exclusive on our side , but that it was necessary for them to make a certain number of programmatic clarifications ”, explained this Monday on Franceinfo Manuel Bompard, former campaign director of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“We proposed to use Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s program as a starting point for the discussions that must take place” with all the partners, “it’s still normal, he won 22% of the votes in the first round of the presidential election”, recalled the MEP, who mentions ” essential points”, in particular retirement at 60, price freezes, the Sixth Republic or ecological planning.
On the other hand, he said he was open to discussion on other subjects, such as nuclear power, which is also one of the main points of disagreement between the Insoumis and the Communists. European issues are another sensitive point with the PS.
Local anchor
The negotiations therefore promise to be complex. Especially since beyond a programmatic agreement, the various parties will have to agree on the nominations, with the objective for each of them to be able to form a group in the National Assembly and to benefit from the public financing of the parties. , the amount of which is calculated according to the results of each in the legislative elections, and which represents an essential source of income for many formations. The Communists thus refused last week a first offer of the Insoumis, described as “unacceptable”.
Because if everyone recognizes a certain leadership in Jean-Luc Mélenchon after his historic score in the presidential election, communists, socialists and ecologists can take advantage of a solid local anchorage, which is sorely lacking in La France insoumise. A data which, they hope, will be seriously taken into account when sealing an agreement.