They are four. Four women, Corsican nationalist activists, members of the Femu a Corsica or Partitu di a nazione corsa (PNC) autonomist movements, who are running in as many constituencies of the Bouches-du-Rhône in the legislative elections of June 12 and 19. An astonishing exile, even if it is not unprecedented, which has its roots in the obligation imposed on political parties to respect the balance between female and male candidates, under penalty of seeing their public aid considerably reduced throughout the mandate.
In Marseilles, Marie Lanzalavi, member of Femu a Corsica and adviser to the Youth Assembly of the Corsica community, is a candidate in the 1re constituency that covers the eastern neighborhoods of the city. His party comrade, Clara-Maria Laredo, 18, is running in the neighboring constituency (6e), held until then by the deputy Les Républicains (LR) Guy Teissier. In the country of Aix, around the former communist stronghold of Gardanne, Magali Gozzi, a member of the PNC, leaves in the 10e constituency. Finally, Lea Manicacci, supported by Femu a Corsica, faces the “rebellious” Manuel Bompard, candidate of the New People’s Ecological and Socialist Union (Nupes) in the heart of downtown Marseille, in the 4e constituency hitherto held by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
All align under the double banner of Regions and Peoples of Solidarity (R&PS), this regionalist federation of which their parties are members, and of Oui la Provence, a movement born from the Occitan Party during the regional elections of 2021, where it obtained 2.18 % of votes. But it is their Corsican training that offered these four activists to travel to the continent.
Balance your accounts
“We have a rule that everyone has agreed to follow: each member party of our alliance is required to respect the strict parity of its incumbent candidates. Even in the event of an odd number of constituencies on its territory,” explains Pèire Costa, director of the Regions and Solidarity Peoples federation, which presents nearly 300 candidates across France. Thus, to balance its accounts, the Basque party EHBai, also a member of R&PS, chose to present a candidate in the 5e constituency of French nationals abroad which covers Spain and Portugal. Garbiñe Eraso will face former Prime Minister Manuel Valls there (Together!).
The cast of these 2022 legislative elections on the island, for Femu a Corsica and the PNC, is exclusively male.
The purpose of these transfers? “Avoid falling below the 2% imbalance between men and women, beyond which public funding is reduced”, recalls Pèire Costa, also campaign director for Oui la Provence. With its four constituencies, Corsica could, without arithmetic suffering, solve the requirement of parity of candidacies. But the cast of these 2022 legislative elections, for Femu a Corsica and the PNC, is exclusively male.
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