Will go? Won’t go? Finally, Taha Bouhafs will not go to the legislative elections. Three days after his official inauguration in the 14th district of the Rhône, the candidate of Nupes announced this Tuesday morning on Twitter that he was giving up running. “I underestimated the power of this system when it wants to grind you down,” he wrote in his statement. “I was supported, not enough to hold on, but enough to be grateful. […] I tried but I can’t do it anymore”, he concludes, discouraged by an “unprecedented storm of attacks”.
“A mob fought against him,” reacted Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Twitter. “At 25, it’s hard to live with death threats and daily public accusations. I blame myself for not having been able to comfort him as much as necessary, ”wrote the leader LFI.
For its part, the Lyon Metropolis Committee of LFI published a statement of support in the afternoon, indicating that it hoped “that its ultimate warning in the form of renunciation will finally be the subject of a global awareness of the problems that it raises, and that in this country where we know so much how to call for freedom of expression, we will end up discovering that some are really deprived of it”. Contacted by 20 MinutesTaha Bouhafs did not respond to our interview requests.
This defection, “a pirouette” in favor of the PCF?
At the LFI headquarters in Vénissieux, “we are dejected and scandalized”, according to Gérard Médioni. “Scandalized by the wave of hatred that swept over a candidate, solely because he has North African origins. Far-right candidates, who are much more dangerous, did not receive the same treatment,” he laments. Gérard Médioni now fears that “many activists are disinvesting in the campaign. We had a candidate from diversity who represents a large part of the youth of the constituency, they could identify with his career.
For Yves Blein, outgoing LREM deputy and candidate for re-election, this defection would be “a pirouette [de LFI] to withdraw their candidate under pressure from the PCF. I do not believe in his victim position, it is a dressing of political negotiations between LFI and PCF. We have seen Fabien Roussel step up to the plate recently to defend Michèle Picard. »
The latter is indeed on the front line. “Reason prevailed,” welcomed the Communist Party of Vénissieux, putting forward its candidate. “Our constituency needs the best candidate to bring together all the populations of all our municipalities,” the PCF said in a statement. “Michèle Picard embodies the courage of women who defend feminist and secular values. […] La Nupes must now recognize Michèle Picard as the candidate who can bring together the entire left. We are now waiting for his support. »
The fear of a new abstention
While waiting to know the decision of LFI, Daniel Navrot, political scientist, confirms that “Michèle Picard has free rein on the left, now. The problem in this constituency will be abstention, and that can play into the PCF’s game, ”he continues. “The withdrawal of Bouhafs will demotivate some voters to vote. We will have to look at how LFI voters will confirm or not their commitment to the presidential election. »
As to whether it was too risky to send Taha Bouhafs to a constituency that already has strong personalities, Daniel Navrot tempers: “The calculation of LFI was not vis-à-vis the PCF, but to recover a constituency whose deputy is a macronist. It therefore needed a strong candidate to try to win. But where LFI made a mistake is that they underestimated the strength and reaction of the PCF in Vénissieux. The PCF is really very rooted in this territory, with very strong characters. They thought everyone would fold as a result of the deal. They were wrong. »