Mathilde Panot was reelected, unanimously, to the presidency of the group La France insoumise (LFI) in the National Assembly, during a vote Tuesday, June 21, at the end of the day.
The 33-year-old MP for Val-de-Marne was the only candidate for this position, which she already held during the previous legislature. Jean-Luc Mélenchon had handed over to him at the head of the LFI deputies in October 2021 in order to carry out his presidential campaign. The one who did not run for the legislative elections this year has often praised his qualities as an activist and organizer: “Nothing scares him”.
Mathilde Panot will now lead a very different group, with around 75 deputies, within a left-wing coalition New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) of some 150 elected officials.
“With Nupes, we will be a combative and determined opposition”she immediately tweeted. “It is a source of great pride, we more than double the number of deputies” left at the Palais Bourbon, she had pointed out during the day.
Thank you to the deputies for having unanimously re-elected me president of the group of La France insoumise at the National Assembly… https://t.co/wH3OEFb8aa
Jean-Luc Mélenchon had proposed, on Monday, the constitution of a single group of Nupes in the National Assembly. But he was met with a clear refusal from the socialist, ecologist or communist allies, who want four distinct groups.
“A group, not a sum of individuals”
Mathilde Panot hoped to enter the government in the event of victory of the “rebellious” in the legislative elections on Sunday. She will rather have to manage personalities and the integration of newcomers, and some macronists hope for leadership disputes at LFI.
“I imagine they dream about it. But we are a group, not a sum of individuals. We had the opportunity to show it with what we did at seventeen during the previous five-year term.she insisted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) recently.
A graduate of Sciences Po, this daughter of teachers was drawn into politics by the former right-hand man of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, François Delapierre, when she headed the association Voisins Malin, in Grigny in Essonne, which aims to develop neighborhood solidarity between residents.
In February 2021, LRM deputy Pierre Henriet (LRM) had dealt with it in the night session of “fishmonger”. In addition to boos, he had received a financial penalty. Mathilde Panot had then collected many supports, in particular from women: “Our institution must not let this pass. There is far too much sexism in the National Assembly”she judged.