POPULAR PRIMARY. The list of candidates for the popular primary has been unveiled, but some have announced that they do not recognize the result. So, what credit to bring to the popular primary?
A primary with more participants than that of Europe Ecology-The Greens or that of the Republicans, but a ballot which is not recognized by some of the candidates. It is in a thick fog that the popular primary will be held, a citizens’ initiative launched with the aim of uniting the left behind a single candidacy. But the advocated sacred union has turned into a well-fractured puzzle, some of the pieces of which cannot (nor want) to fit together with the rest. Seven candidates have been formalized by the organizers: Anna Agueb-Poterie, environmental activist, Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris and PS candidate, Yannick Jadot, MEP and EELV candidate, Pierre Larrouturou, MEP, Charlotte Marchandise, expert in the field Health, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, LFI candidate, and Christiane Taubira, former Minister of Justice.
These names will be put to the vote (from January 27 to 30, 2022) by at least 250,000 people, as the organizers announced on Monday January 17, 2022. However, some political figures selected have announced that they will ignore the result. and that they would maintain their candidacy at all costs until the end: Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The ambition of a unique project has turned into a war of chapel (and ego), annihilating any possibility of gathering. The marriage would have been too forced. Rather than a divorce which could have broken out in the middle of the campaign, everyone preferred to continue living on their own. Much to the chagrin of the organizers.
At the end of January, it will be a special ballot. From a call to the ballot boxes (electronic) to choose the invested candidate, the popular primary has passed to a vote by mention that it will support. Voters will have to answer a question: “To win ecology and social justice, these candidates are?”. To which they will have to assign one of the grades for each: “very good, good, fairly good, passable, insufficient”. The one with the most positive mentions will be declared the winner.
But what can we concretely expect from this popular primary the day after the results? If Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot or Jean-Luc Mélenchon come out on top, this could allow them to give a boost to their campaign, although they do not wish to recognize the result of the ballot. On the other hand, if Christiane Taubira wins, it will add one more candidacy to the left, the ex-keeper of the Seals also wishing to go to the end, although she did not want to be “one more candidacy”. The former tenant of Place Vendôme could be able to collect 500 sponsorships to appear on April 10. On the other hand, if one of the three other candidates wins, it is difficult to imagine that the presidential project would come to an end. The primary that would bring together the most voters for the 2022 campaign could well be a blow in the water.
What is the popular primary?
The paternity of a primary for a single candidate on the left does not go to Anne Hidalgo and her stillborn proposal for a “primary of the left” formulated at the beginning of December. In February 2021, the popular primary was launched with the objective of defining a “common base of ten measures of rupture with 13 political parties and inspired by the demands of the social movements of recent years”. The measures are then divided into three themes: an ecological republic, a social republic and a democratic republic.
Since the emergence of the project, 300,000 people have joined the initiative of a popular primary, names of personalities likely to carry such a program have been proposed, with or without their validation. A sponsorship system was then put in place until October 11, the date on which 10 personalities (5 men and 5 women) were designated after having received the most sponsorships.
They then had until the end of November to say whether or not they wanted to participate in the primary. “There were not enough of them to commit to the process. We have therefore, with the validation of our signatories through a massive consultation, chosen to continue the project in the form of a citizen nomination, with or without the agreement of the candidates”, specifies the organization. The third step will consist in the designation of a personality among those officially declared candidates for the popular primary on January 15, 2022.
Who are the candidates for the popular primary?
The sponsorship system of the popular primary has therefore made it possible to define ten personalities capable, according to the voters, of carrying the common base defined in the presidential election. Several prominent politicians have been named, while other lesser-known actors have also been included in the list of personalities to vote for (without necessarily being candidates). They are Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Pierre Larrouturou, Charlotte Marchandise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Anna-Agueb Pottery and Christiane Taubira.
When will the popular primary take place?
However, to see his name appear during the vote, it is necessary to have formalized his candidacy by January 15. Voting will then take place online from January 27-30, with a 100% online single-round ballot. Participation is free.
Who participates in the popular primary?
Everyone can participate in the popular primary. Just register on the site. Three prerequisites: be 16 years old, be French and “recognize yourself in the spirit of the common base”.