The third man in the presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon asked the French on Tuesday to elect him “Prime Minister” in the June legislative elections, whether they choose Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen next Sunday.
The leader of the Insoumis had been combative on the evening of the first round, when he had collected 21.95% of the votes, placing himself largely in the lead on the left but failing some 400,000 votes in the second round, behind the candidate of the National Rally. He then seemed to hand over to his troops, dropping at the end of the speech: “ do better in the 2027 presidential election, for which he promised not to be a candidate.
This Tuesday evening, after having spent part of the day discussing with his lieutenants in a parliamentary inter-group meeting, he rather projected himself towards a very immediate fight, namely the legislative elections of June 12 and 19. ” I ask the French to elect me Prime Minister “by voting for a” majority of rebels ” and of ” members of the People’s Union in these elections, he said on BFM TV, in his first public statement since April 10.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon therefore aims to impose cohabitation on the future winner of the presidential election, with whom he excludes any ” negotiation “. And this, whether it is Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen. He also reiterated that he would give no other instruction in the second round than ” not a voice to Mrs. Le Pen “, Who embodies ” the total contradiction “with his program” of harmony “. But ” the question of who is president at this time of cohabitation does not count in his eyes, because it is the Prime Minister who signs the decrees “, he said, adding that he wanted to apply his program.
A “ popular union » enlarged
The operation promises to be difficult, but the rebellious strategists have estimated in recent days, like campaign director Manuel Bompard, that the “ legislative would be more important than usual because the president will be the worst elected of the Fifth Republic “. Blame it on a high potential abstention.
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To succeed in mobilizing in legislative elections traditionally less popular with voters, the Insoumis hope to give the image of a “ popular union » enlarged. To this end, they called on Europe Écologie-Les Verts, the French Communist Party and the New Anti-Capitalist Party to rally behind them and their program, proposing that the allocation of constituencies be applied to the proportionality of the results of the first round.
Julien Bayou, the leader of the Greens, replied that he hoped for more. But he also said on Tuesday that he expected negotiations to be completed by the end of next week. Another EELV executive even judged ” attainable “, in front of journalists, that there is an agreement ” by the weekend to give hope to left-wing voters, who will vote reluctantly on Sunday in the second round.
(With AFP)