Not without a stir, the deputy Manuel Bompard, close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, will take the direction of La France insoumise, Saturday in Paris during an assembly convened to deepen and diversify the territorial anchoring of the movement. Asked by AFP, the deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône said Thursday that he would “continue the work” started unofficially at the wand of the movement since the withdrawal in September of Adrien Quatennens – who confessed to domestic violence.
Alongside this limited operational management will be created a “political council”, a place of debate on strategy made up of elected officials, personalities and rebellious executives. This body, without a leader and with an advisory function, was not planned until very recently, testify several deputies who learned of its existence this week. And if the designation of Manuel Bompard at the head of the movement is “natural because he knows how to organize very well”, Eric Coquerel, president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, affirms the “discovery”.
François Ruffin at the “political council”
Unlike the congresses initiated by the other Nupes formations, which elect their leaders, LFI designates its executives by “consensus”, explains Manuel Bompard, with the objective of “protecting itself from the confrontation between a majority and minorities”. Similarly, he confides, being in operational management requires significant availability, which some personalities cannot satisfy.
Starting with François Ruffin. The deputy of the Somme, until then little invested in the authorities, had expressed the wish to integrate the direction to give more importance to the countryside and peri-urban areas. But he ended up agreeing to be on the “political council”, as his entourage confirmed.
“Personally, I pleaded for François Ruffin to be in the leadership because he is an important figure in the movement”, slips MP Clémentine Autain. In general, “it would be desirable for all the nuances of the movement to be represented in the leadership”, agrees Eric Coquerel, pleading for the bulk of the 17 deputies of the previous term to be there.
The movement will “change nature”
A meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon to settle the final details before Saturday’s Assembly should therefore also address this subject of representativeness. “Who decides, that is the question”, which torments many activists, blows an elected official in private. However, Manuel Bompard assures that the movement will “change in nature” thanks to several reforms.
Departmental loops will allow local action groups, hitherto self-sufficient, to communicate with each other. Activists will also be able to contribute via “voluntary contributions” which they will decide on the allocation – national campaigns, local action groups…
However, a small part will automatically be paid into an equalization fund, which will provide resources to the less well off departments. LFI is also going to buy premises in rural and peri-urban areas in an attempt to compete there with the National Rally. A school of executives will also be created, so that the movement has a new breeding ground from which to draw its leaders.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon “keystone”
“All this is going in the right direction” to anchor and diversify the movement, believes Eric Coquerel, even if he does not say he is against a future implementation of elections because “people want to give their opinion”. “LFI was created (in 2016) for electoral campaigns, now that we have 75 deputies and are the first force on the left, we must give it a lasting framework”, sums up the deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, he will speak to the 160 delegates – a third of executives, two thirds of activists drawn by lot – of the Representative Assembly, to which journalists will not have physical access. More deputy, he should mention the Institut La Boétie, rebellious think-tank which he will take the direction in the coming weeks. He wants to remain the “keystone” but be less directly “actor”, reports an intimate of the tribune three times presidential candidate.