Back to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. It is in this commune of Hauts-de-France that Fabien Roussel, the native of Béthune – 80 kilometers to the west – took up residence with his family “about twenty years ago”. It is also in this communist stronghold, the last in the region, that the current leader of the PCF exercised his first local mandates, alongside the mayor Alain Bocquet, a very close friend. Not having been re-elected deputy of the 20th constituency of the North, in the legislative elections last July, still has some positive points. “I will be able to spend a little more time in my city”, he consoles himself. Despite his defeat, his former parliamentary office will remain open to the public, on Fridays.
Some friends whisper: “Fabien has a real municipal perspective in Saint-Amand.” The person concerned neither confirms nor denies the rumors. “It’s up to the choices of the mayor, who said he would not run again in 2026. And who is increasingly putting his team forward…” But Fabien Roussel does not fail to point out that with his “modest mandate as municipal councilor”, he has always “used [ses] networks with ministers, prefects or the President of the Republic to obtain exceptional aid”. A great sales argument, although 10 of the 16 polling stations in the town gave a majority of votes to the National Rally in the first round of the last election.
“I was punished because I formed a union with Mélenchon”
Last Sunday, during the Saint-Amand-les-Eaux flea market, the communist noted that “the mask of anger”, worn by the Amandinois during the last legislative elections, still marks the faces. “At the same time, they have been cuckolded twice! They chose the National Rally so that everything would change, and feel cheated by Michel Barnier, appointed by the president with the blessing of the RN deputy…” This mask, the former presidential candidate has been identifying it for several months, almost helplessly, in his fellow citizens. Before the results of the first round of the legislative elections were released on June 30, he asked his son to come home: “It’s going to be carnage”. Roussel knew he was “surrounded” in his stronghold since the European elections, when Jordan Bardella came out on top with more than 20 points ahead of Léon Deffontaines (PCF), second. His apprehensions, confided to a small circle of close friends, become reality: Fabien Roussel is soundly beaten by Guillaume Florquin, RN candidate. His substitute is devastated; his collaborators rush to rewrite his speech. He is hurt, it is said, by the outcome of the sequence. “I want to move on,” he now affirms.
The improbable victory of the New Popular Front on July 7 – with an unfortunate aftermath for the left – managed from his holiday resort in Corsica helped. “The discussions mainly fueled the boiler. He didn’t really show any sign of despondency or resignation,” sighs David Cormand, the ecologist lieutenant of the negotiations. But in certain moments of emptiness, Fabien Roussel often finds himself replaying the match. In recent weeks, how many of his close friends have heard, from the mouth of the communist national secretary, to what extent the alliance with the Insoumis was fatal to him in his constituency? Roussel confided to a friend: “I was caught in a pincer movement between the speeches made about Mélenchon, and the establishment of the NFP to beat the RN.” The person concerned says nothing else to L’Express: “I was, in part, punished because I united with Mélenchon.”
He, whose violent disagreements with LFI and its leader are no secret, wants to speak to “the France of the sub-prefectures”. “I denounce the identity fight as much when it is led by the RN as by the leftists”, he tackles. An accusation similar to those raised by François Ruffin, MP excluded from La France insoumise. “I have been telling him to join us for several years, we even offered him a place in the European elections. He said no, because he wanted to remain loyal to Mélenchon”, Roussel sighs. “But we must not put everything on the alliance’s back. I say to those who criticize me: ‘Did you give me strength in the European elections where we went alone?’ Obviously not, Léon Deffontaines’ list got 2.5%. It is this difficult contradiction that must be resolved.”
Cazeneuve? “If he had called me, I would have answered”
The communist may well affirm that it is necessary to “avoid the left arguing in order to be as united as possible”, he did not appreciate the attitude of his camp during the sequence. And did not fail to cultivate his difference with the rest of the New Popular Front. Xavier Bertrand? The president of Hauts-de-France, whom he knows well since he worked with him to defend local industrial sites, called him several times to test possible support in the event of his nomination to Matignon. “We discussed the modalities so that the communists would not censor him directly”, he admits, even though the NFP promised him immediate censorship. Evil tongues assure that he would have also been in contact with Bernard Cazeneuve. He denies it: “It was Castets who spoke with him. But if he had called me, I would have picked up.” A resigning minister praises his attitude: “He was one of the constructive ones. Within the PCF, some said that governing was a matter of blows. He thought that it was necessary to try.” “Not at any price!” corrects André Chassaigne, head of the deputies at the Palais Bourbon. The communists will still meet Michel Barnier on September 17, unlike the PS, which was also invited.
Fabien Roussel will take advantage of his free time to “take care of the party a little more, its strengthening, its organization”. National Secretary of the PCF since 2018, re-elected with an overwhelming majority at the Marseille congress in 2023, he will remain boss of the red house for another three years. At Place du Colonel Fabien, some friends are wondering about the Roussel enigma. “His popularity, the place he has snatched in the political landscape, has not yet translated into elections. So there is a debate”, one of them whispers. It will also be held in mid-December, during a “national conference”, in order to draw up a “balance sheet of the strategy implemented during the congress”, according to a communist bigwig. In the meantime, Fabien Roussel is refining his speech for Saturday on the occasion of the Fête de l’Humanité. He will speak forty-five minutes before Jean-Luc Mélenchon. But the communist loves MC Solaar! And that’s good, he will be performing at about the same time as the rebellious leader…
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