POPULAR PRIMARY. As the vote for the popular Primary takes place from Thursday January 27 to Sunday January 30, 2022, uncertainty reigns over the results. Can we expect a surprise?
It is a new ballot which will take place in a certain vagueness. Brought to the forefront of the media scene by the political quarrels but also by its number of registered voters, the popular Primary opens on Thursday January 27, 2022 with the objective of designating the candidate who will be most able, according to the voters, to ” to win ecology and social justice in the presidential election”. But the ambivalent atmosphere that hangs over this vote raises fears of the absence of a real popular upsurge around the winner. Because if the organizers boast on the one hand of having counted 467,000 registered for the ballot, a figure still not validated by the High Authority for Vote Control two days before the ballot, the evolution of the regulations and the choice of candidates has sometimes cooled. While the initial objective was to invest a candidate, the organization of the popular Primary will ultimately only provide support to the personality who comes first in a majority judgment. Moreover, the ambition to bring together all the candidates of the left in this primary to push them to unite and bring a single common project to this political obedience quickly fell through. Although their name was acclaimed and entered on the starting list, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot always refused to submit to it, when Anne Hidalgo had said yes before changing her mind.
The fault of a private video of one of the members of the organization, Samuel Grzybowski, spokesperson, in which he called for everything to prevent the trio from obtaining the 500 sponsorships, an activist in favor of Christiane Taubira. The irruption of the former Keeper of the Seals in the game also came to disturb the left a little more… and to skew the fate of this primary? Mélenchon, Jadot and Hidalgo having announced that they refused to recognize the results – unveiled on Sunday January 30 – and did not take this ballot into account, the ex-minister seems to be the favorite against three other candidates from “civil society” Anna Agueb-Porterie , Charlotte Marchandise and Pierre Larrouturou. No poll has been done but the victory of Christiane Taubira, muse of part of the left, is obvious. At least a priori.
“The chips are not down, and we are not at all in a ‘primary Taubira'” tempers the spokesperson. “I don’t think she captured (the light) for her. I know that there are a lot of rebels who are going to vote, a lot of people who are not from a party” advance, moreover, Charlotte Merchandise. Because despite the aura of the main candidate, the unknown reigns around the voters. No data has been released on the profile of those who will be able to vote from Thursday to Sunday. Are they really registered to vote for the project carried by one of the seven names? Is a “stuffing” of registrations aimed at truncating the result possible? Wouldn’t a political coup be in the works? Because even if Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo announced that they would ignore their fate during this election, nothing says that voters of these candidates were not pushed to register to get out lead their leader in order to gain new supporters for the campaign. What will be the attitude adopted by these elected officials if one of them wins the majority of the vote, while Samuel Grzybowski announced that “it’s not a primary that will eliminate the losers, it’s a primary that classifies a group of seven to say who can be in leadership and with whom we can work next”? After months and months of planning, the white smoke will finally come out of the chimney of the popular Primary. To clear or obstruct a little more the sky of the left during this presidential?
What is People’s 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.
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. On January 15, 2022, the final list of successful names was announced.
Who are the People’s Primary Candidates?
The sponsorship system of the Popular Primary has therefore made it possible to define, in the end, seven personalities able, according to the voters, to carry 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 Anna-Agueb Pottery, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Pierre Larrouturou, Charlotte Marchandise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Christiane Taubira.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the Popular Primary
“We demand that his name be removed from all physical and digital media.” Manuel Bompard’s press release of Wednesday January 19, 2022 is clear: Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not want to be associated with the Popular Primary. The campaign manager of the LFI presidential candidate judges that “this vote is akin to a kind of poll without any of the basic rules allowing to guarantee its sincerity to be respected”. Since the launch of the initiative, and although his name has been proposed, Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not want to hear about this election. The deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône has always been opposed to it, judging that too great differences existed between the left-wing contenders for the Elysée, making any union impossible, whether via the popular primary or not. Despite its end of inadmissibility, the name of the Insoumis will be put to the vote and could collect votes.
What is the voting date for the popular Primary?
Voting, 100% digital, will open on Thursday January 27, 2022 at 10 a.m. and close on Sunday January 30 at 5 p.m.
Who votes in the popular Primary?
To be able to participate in the vote during the popular Primary, it was necessary to fulfill three conditions: to be at least 16 years old, to be French and “to recognize oneself in the spirit of the common base” built by the organization of the vote. It was possible to register until Sunday 23 January. The list of participants being now closed, 467,000 people will be able to take part in the ballot according to the figures communicated by the organizers.
What are the poll results?
As for the EELV and LR primaries, no poll on popular Primary voting intentions was carried out. On the other hand, a study carried out exclusively by YouGov for Linternaute showed that the majority of left-wing voters wanted candidates of their political persuasion to submit to the result of this primary (65%), when 20% judged that no and 15% expressed no opinion on the subject. On the other hand, voters on the left judge at 59% that the process will not allow the union behind the winning candidate (26% yes, 11% do not know, 4% have not heard of the primary).
When will the results of the People’s Primary be known?
The results of the popular Primary will be known on Sunday, January 30, 2022, after 5 p.m., after four days of voting. The fully digital ballot will begin on Thursday 27 January. For the time being, the organizers have not specified the methods for announcing the results. The name of the leading candidate should be revealed on social networks.