“To create a dynamic, everyone has to get together. We wish to find ourselves on a contract of common legislature, enriched by each sensibility”. That was the project of Fabien Roussel, the communist candidate for the presidential election and candidate for his re-election in the North, expressed in a tweet two days ago.
This Saturday, as the deadline for submitting legislative applications approaches, the account is not there for the PCF. On the side of the place of Colonel Fabien, we note that “the proposals of La France insoumise did not allow at this time” to find an agreement for the legislative elections of June, and proposes candidates in addition to their outgoing deputies, Saturday , in a statement.
“After several days of discussion with our partners, we note that the proposals of La France insoumise, which has the primary responsibility for allowing this gathering, have not allowed at this time” an agreement, specifies the national executive committee of the party. . The formation of Fabien Roussel (2.3% in the presidential election) requests “the holding as soon as possible of a joint meeting of our four political formations which has not yet taken place at this time rather than in separate bilateral meetings “.
LFI, dominant after the 22% obtained by Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first presidential election, is indeed conducting bilateral negotiations with the PCF, EELV, the PS and the NPA – parties which did not obtain 5%. The communists want “a coalition of forces without hegemony and a common label which reflects the expression of our diversity, for example the popular union of the left and the ecologists gathered”. They recognize the primacy of the Common Future, but would like certain proposals from each of the parties to be taken into account. Finally, they believe that the constituency proposals by LFI do not allow the PCF to form a group.
According to them, the agreement must therefore, in addition to their 11 outgoing deputies, allow “personalities recognized for their field commitments” to be invested. They list 14. For the time being, LFI has only concluded an agreement with Generations on Thursday, negotiations continuing with all the other left-wing forces during this weekend.
Towards an extension of negotiations next week?
“It’s progressing”, for his part soberly commented Manuel Bompard, chief negotiator for LFI. His training has been dominant since Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s 22% on April 10, while all the others have been relegated below 5% giving them the right to reimbursement of their campaign expenses.
However, the desire to conclude an agreement seemed real on Saturday between LFI and EELV. The two formations have tackled in depth the themes that could get in the way, such as Europe, the sharing of constituencies or even the mode of organization of the alliance, during the last two weeks.
An agreement “is in sight”, hoped the leader of the Greens Julien Bayou on Friday morning, even believing that a joint parade on May 1, Sunday, would be the ideal symbol of a possible alliance. With the Socialist Party, the flash reconciliation that has been taking shape since the middle of the week promises to be difficult, the Socialists having “suspended” their discussions on Friday noon. In question, argued the party leadership: the “hegemonic” attitudes of LFI.
The rebellion of certain elected officials and a minority current who do not accept that the PS has subscribed to the ideological demands of the Insoumis (retirement at 60, partial disobedience to Europe, price freezes, etc.) also explains the procrastination of ‘Olivier Faure and his lieutenants. From these adventures, Jean-Luc Mélenchon gets annoyed. The former presidential candidate, who is now targeting Matignon, calls in the JDD on the left parties to get out of “the permanent culture of defeat”, regretting that they “let themselves be absorbed by their internal issues”. His criticisms also target the PS just as much as EELV – and its “internal mode of operation” favoring the plurality of tendencies – and the PCF.
Sunday evening is the deadline for an agreement mentioned by all the protagonists, who evoke the imperatives of electoral propaganda but also of campaigning for the legislative elections which are fast approaching, on June 12 and 19. But the hypothesis of extensions next week is getting stronger.