The one who was the first woman to stand for a presidential election is delivering her last campaign on the Lutte Ouvrière list for the European elections.
“Workers, workers…” At Lutte Ouvrière, these two words still introduce all the speeches. The author of this formula still evolves in the ranks of the Trotskyist formation, even if she has been discreet for around fifteen years. However, she appears on the party list for the 2024 European elections, for what will be her last campaign.
“I hope that this will be my last campaign! I have given in to my comrades. I am in 81st and last position on the Lutte Ouvrière (LO) list for the European elections. To show that these are still my ideas and that I I’m still here”, explains Arlette Laguiller to Paris Match. “People find me out of date and old-fashioned for my ideas. And the Pope, then?” She jokes.
“She’s a comrade”
The one who was the first candidate for a presidential election under the Fifth Republic, in 1974, still holds the record for the number of candidacies for such an election, with six consecutive, the last in 2007. She then collected nearly 6% of the votes. votes. In parallel with these notable candidacies, Arlette Laguiller was municipal councilor of Lilas (Seine-Saint-Denis), regional councilor of Île-de-France and finally European deputy from 1999 to 2004. For these 2024 European elections, her presence in position non-eligible on the LO list is mainly symbolic.
“She’s a comrade, a comrade in the struggle, a comrade in combat, with whom I talk constantly,” the head of the list, Nathalie Arthaud, who succeeded Arlette Laguiller in 2008 as carrier, confides to TF1. words of Lutte Ouvrière. “When we want, you know, to change the world, well, I believe that this desire, these convictions, we always keep them,” Arthaud continues.
“Okay, I walk with a cane, but my head is fine, and the ideas are there,” confirms Arlette Laguiller. However, “as long as your head functions, you are not retired from politics!”