The left has become so used to defeats, in the streets as well as at the polls, that the good score of the candidate of La France insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in the first round of the presidential election (third place, 21.95%) gave him a form of hope. In any case, among its most unionised, most politicized militants, those who took part in the parades on May Day demanding a different social policy, resources for public services, the refusal of retirement at 65 or wage increases for workers.
The crowd was not exceptional on Sunday in the streets of Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, where 116,000 people marched, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 210,000 according to the CGT, in a fairly festive atmosphere. , even if several hundred thugs, in Paris, damaged furniture, shops and violently attacked the police and gendarmes. Just as much as the numbers – slightly higher than in May 2021, but lower than those of 2019, the last movement before the Covid-19 pandemic – it is the words, the slogans, which express the feeling of this left, hard core of the electorate of Mélenchon, to have regained confidence in its capacity to influence the public debate.
Sina Krishnan, for example, red CGT vest over the shoulders, in the Paris parade. The activist, 60, used to the parades of the 1is-May for decades, rejoices: “There are more young people than usual! ». Employed by a car rental company at Roissy airport, he is worried about what he considers to be a lasting challenge to employee rights. Both on salaries and on pensions. “It does not date from Macron, already under François Hollande and even before. » He slipped a Mélenchon ballot in the first round of the presidential election, as in 2017, before voting blank in the second so as not to have to choose between the outgoing president and the far-right candidate. “I will never vote for the RN [Rassemblement national]. But I have been marching against Macron for five years. It wouldn’t have made sense to vote for him. » For the legislative elections, he will vote for a candidate supported by Mélenchon: “I’ve always had left-wing values, you have to carry them and defend them. »
The political calendar, which places the annual union ritual between the presidential election (April 10 and 24) and the legislative elections (June 12 and 19), obviously gave a particular tone to this day. In particular for the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who had decided, often in pain, to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round in order to oppose the far right. This is the case of Emma, 21, an English student in Paris, elector of the candidate of La République en Marche in the second round. “to block Marine Le Pen”. “Today, I am here to tell Emmanuel Macron that, despite my vote, I am opposed to all his measures. » The young woman mentions in particular the reform of the university: “I don’t want my children to be forced to pay thousands of euros to be able to go to higher education. »
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