Discussions are getting tougher within the New Popular Front, whose components are still unable to agree on a candidate for the post of Prime Minister. On Saturday evening, the Socialist Party refused to endorse the choice of Reunion Islander Huguette Bello, provoking the anger of LFI, which convened its authorities this Sunday, July 14.
Key information to remember
⇒ The Socialist Party rejects the option of Huguette Bello for Matignon
⇒ No decision taken by the Greens
⇒ La France insoumise has convened its authorities this Sunday at noon
LFI summons its authorities to “analyze the significance of the constant blockages of the PS”
After the Socialist Party’s refusal to validate Huguette Bello’s name for Matignon, the reaction of La France Insoumise (LFI) was swift: the movement’s coordinator Manuel Bompard accused the PS of “blocking everything” with this refusal. “Consequently, the coordination of La France Insoumise is convened” this Sunday at 12 noon “to analyze the meaning of the Socialist Party’s constant blockages against any candidacy other than that of its first secretary, Olivier Faure”, wrote Manuel Bompard on X.
The candidacy of Huguette Bello, 73, president of the Réunion region and who was a member of parliament for 23 years, had been proposed Wednesday evening by the leader of the communists Fabien Roussel, after three days of discussions by the NFP, still looking for a candidate to nominate to Emmanuel Macron for Matignon. Huguette Bello, close to the communists but also to the rebels, was quickly validated Friday by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whom she had supported in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections. She is a “solution” and “checks many boxes” to become Prime Minister, he had said.
No decision taken by the Ecologists
The entourage of the head of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, confirmed to AFP that “no decision has been made” among them. “We need collective time,” it was specified. “We stand firm in our positions, we cannot defend a scenario that we know will lead to nothing,” explained a socialist executive at the end of the National Council, assuring that the party was united on this line.
The Socialist Party rejects the option of Huguette Bello for Matignon
The Socialist Party rejected, Saturday evening, at the end of a meeting of its national council, the candidacy of Huguette Bello for the post of Prime Minister on behalf of the New Popular Front (NFP). The Socialists called for continuing discussions with its partners because “no name is a consensus” among the NFP partners “at this stage”, affirmed the Secretary General of the PS, Pierre Jouvet, in a statement to AFP. The Socialists want to continue discussions to find a name “by July 18”, the date of the opening of the legislature, he assured.
In interview to the ParisianOlivier Faure adds that the Huguette Bello proposal “had not been the subject of any debate or validation. We must therefore continue to work, broaden and find a candidate who strongly supports our common project”, specifying that he had “proposed other names this week, without success”. “We want to give ourselves the best chance that a Popular Front government will be appointed by the president first, and not censored afterwards”, specified Boris Vallaud, re-elected leader of the socialist deputies, in The Sunday Tribune.