The craziest campaign evening was not necessarily, Sunday, April 10, in the winning staffs. At the Cirque d’hiver, in Paris, around Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the emotional lift was sometimes violent. The militants of La France insoumise (LFI) alternately wept, then dreamed. For the former socialist senator, this Sunday was first of all that of an honorable defeat, dressed in victory, then of awakened hope. In vain, because the final results did not change the order of the ballot. The People’s Union candidate finished third, with 21.95% of the vote. But for a little over an hour, his supporters believed in it.
It all starts a little after 6 p.m. The polls that are circulating give the candidate a solid third place, without ambiguity, with a significant difference. The candidate is at work, surrounded by his inner circle, he is preparing a speech to give this defeat the appearance of victory. The Cirque d’Hiver goes silent two minutes before 8 p.m. The cleaver falls. If some collapse in tears, we hear especially his supporters sing: “We are here, even if Macron does not want it, we are here. »
Despite the disappointment, everyone at LFI, and the candidate first, is working to give a positive coloring to this score, which surpasses that of 2017 (19.58%) and gives the People’s Union campaign a indisputable first place on the left. If, in 2017, Jean-Luc Mélenchon could have given the feeling of instantly squandering his political capital by delaying in recognizing the result and by addressing the question of the dam on the far right backwards, five years later, he is doing everything ‘reverse.
“You must not give a single voice to Mr.me Le Pen »
He arrives smiling, around 8:45 p.m., surrounded by his relatives, Sophia Chikirou, Manuel Bompard, Younous Omarjee, Mathilde Panot. They are about to come down from the platform to let him speak alone, he holds them back, taking Mathilde Panot by the arm, and makes it a point of honor to express himself surrounded by those he has designated as his successor. The question of the republican roadblock is addressed from the outset, although without quoting Emmanuel Macron: “The only task we have to give ourselves is the one accomplished by the myth of Sisyphus, the stone falls down the ravine, well we go uphe said. I know your anger, don’t give in to what it will make you commit errors that would be irreparable… as long as life goes on, the fight goes on. » “We know who we will never vote for”he continues. “You must not give a single voice to Mr.me Le Pen »he repeats four times, warning the critics.
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