Compared to the objectives set, the bet has been successful for the moment for the popular primary. This citizens’ initiative, aimed at deciding between left-wing presidential candidates, claimed a total of 467,000 registrants on Sunday evening. This figure is much higher than the other primaries, but it is only symbolic for the moment: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo indeed refuse to submit to this process.
Voters, who had until midnight Sunday to register, are invited to vote from January 27 to 30 to designate, among seven personalities on the left, the one who will be supported by the primary. The left currently has five main presidential candidates (Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot, Anne Hidalgo, Fabien Roussel, and Christiane Taubira), without anyone being able to compete with the right and Emmanuel Macron for the first presidential round on April 10.
A process that “cannot be ignored”
“Our initial goal was to outnumber the Republican primary. We are surprised by this number. It shows a craze among left-wing voters and ecology, ”said one of the organizers, Mathilde Imer. “It is the biggest process of deciding between candidates in France, it cannot be ignored,” she adds.
The number of those registered to vote has accelerated in recent days, allowing this initiative to assert itself far superior to the environmentalist primary in September (122,000), that of the Republicans in early December (nearly 140,000) or the militant sponsorships of Jean-Luc Melenchon (260,000).
Former Keeper of the Seals Christiane Taubira and three lesser candidates, MEP Pierre Larrouturou and two people from civil society Charlotte Marchandise and Anna Agueb-Porterie, have already said they would comply with the results. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo, on the other hand, find themselves involved in the ballot despite themselves.