As the European elections approach, La France insoumise is trying to mobilize its electorate, and more specifically young people, in the vote. Emphasis is also placed on the Palestinian conflict, the main theme of their campaign.
This is the bet of the rebels in the campaign for the European elections and he is sticking to it. After suffering a setback in Lille, where his conference on Palestine at the university was canceled, Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke on Monday April 22 at the Sciences Po Paris premises. And this Friday, April 26, while pro-Palestinian students block certain buildings at Sciences Po Paris, the founder of the rebellious party welcomed the mobilization from Yerevan, Armenia. “You are at this moment, for us, the honor of our country,” he declared on X.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not the only one to react, the pro-Palestinian jurist and candidate in 7th position on the LFI list in the European elections, Rima Hassan, also had a word for the students. The one who was also to participate in the conference in Lille, joined the mobilization in front of Sciences Po to express her support. These interventions are the perfect summary of the main strategy of the rebels in view of the June 9 election.
The university tour
Very invested in the campaign of the head of the list of La France insoumise Manon Aubry in the European elections, the three unsuccessful candidate in the presidential election responded to several invitations from student associations, reports the Huffington Post. After Nantes, Créteil, and even Clermont-Ferrand, Jean-Luc Mélenchon should continue his tour of universities until June 9.
Lagging behind in the polls with 7 to 8% of voting intentions according to the latest polls, Manon Aubry’s list is indeed struggling to come together. Worse, Raphaël Glucksmann, who leads the Place publique/Socialist Party list, takes off and soars above 12% voting intention. To try to turn the tide, La France insoumise relies on an electorate more receptive to its fights: young people, and in particular students. “The university is a place where we can develop, reflect and argue,” argued the rebellious MP Louis Boyard at the initiative of this tour of universities.
Youth, the strong point of La France insoumise
It must be said that during the last presidential election, voters aged 18 to 34 mostly voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, giving him 34% of their votes. “Youth is our point of strength, and where we achieve the best scores,” explained Manon Aubry to HuffingtonPost. Prone to anti-racist, feminist, ecological or anti-capitalist questions, these themes relate to a form of “adequacy between our program, our ideas on the one hand and the state of mind that exists in youth on the other”, estimated LFI deputy Antoine Léaument.
The geopolitical situation in the Middle East with the war between the State of Israel and Hamas since October 7 is also one of the key themes of the rebel campaign. And rebellious France sometimes kills two birds with one stone by participating in conferences and other debates on the question of Palestine with students.
Rima Hassan, Franco-Palestinian activist and rebellious candidate in the European elections, takes the issue to heart. In mid-March, she was welcomed like a rockstar during the party’s campaign launch meeting in Villepinte, reported Europe 1. “Europe must urgently put an end to the EU-Israel agreement since this agreement, it must be remembered, is conditional on respect for human rights. There is an urgent need to sanction the Palestinian state,” she declared. If the positions of the rebels on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have earned the LFI executives numerous criticisms and in particular summons as part of an investigation for “apology of terrorism”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon like Rima Hassan remain faithful to their speeches , as they showed it at Sciences Po Paris.