Lhe lack of internal democracy is once again creating controversy at La France insoumise (LFI). Dismissed from the operational management to which she was applying, Clémentine Autain denounces a ” lockdown “. Figures like Eric Coquerel, Raquel Garrido, Alexis Corbière or François Ruffin have not found their place there either. These personalities will undoubtedly sit in a broader “political council” whose prerogatives appear vague. While uncertainties hover around the leadership of Jean-Luc Melenchon and a hypothetical fourth candidate for the presidential election, the management of LFI, co-opted, falls back on its closest entourage.
Since the creation of the movement, a demand for democratization has been expressed in the “rebellious” ranks in a recurrent way without being satisfied, causing regular waves of departure. This is because the movement, created ad hoc in 2016 to support the presidential ambition of its leader, intends to subvert the modes of partisan democracy of the traditional parties (an ambition shared by Renaissance). Jean-Luc Mélenchon assumes it in a long interview granted to the weekly The 1st, in October 2017: “The aim of the La France insoumise movement is not to be democratic, but collective. »
Thus, the leadership of the party (difficult to identify) is not designated by the members, who form an evanescent and uncontrollable base (membership is done in a few clicks for free on a digital platform). The local groups are autonomous, but deprived of financial means (concentrated at headquarters). There is no congress, no recognized tendencies, no vote of political orientation. On secularism or on Europe, LFI has changed its political line in recent years without these inflections having given rise to collective deliberations. As noted by a historical figure at LFI, Charlotte Girard, who left it in 2019: “There is no way not to agree. »
Unclear operation
Unlike the other components of the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), the legislative electoral agreement did not give rise to any consultation at LFI. In the same way, electoral nominations, as in other parties, are not produced by militant votes, but conferred by electoral committees whose functioning is not very transparent. Those close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon saw their loyalty rewarded in the last legislative elections by obtaining favorable constituencies, often at the cost of parachuting and in defiance of activists on the ground.
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