Presidential: despite the outstretched hand of Anne Hidalgo, the union of the left still flops

Published on : 12/09/2021 – 13:16

Some want to see it as a courageous and responsible act. For others, it is just a desperate attempt to exist in a poorly engaged presidential campaign. One thing is certain: if by calling for a primary and a single candidacy, Wednesday, December 8, Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg have created a ray of hope among left-wing voters, for an evening, the reactions of others candidates from this political family quickly showered their aspirations.

Through the voice of his lieutenant Éric Coquerel, deputy La France insoumise (LFI) of Seine-Saint-Denis, Jean-Luc Mélenchon quickly refused any outstretched hand, stressing that the program differences were too deep between each candidate.

Refusal also on the side of Fabien Roussel, candidate of the Communist Party (PCF). “A primary only makes it possible to resolve a casting problem. However, the problem of the left today is that it no longer speaks to the working classes. Fabien Roussel is a candidate and will remain so,” assured his entourage at the ‘AFP.

Finally, it is also no for the candidate of Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), Yannick Jadot. “I will not participate in a primary of the left”, he affirmed Thursday morning on Europe 1, seeing in the call of Anne Hidalgo a “desire to break the impasse by a surprise idea”.

The proposals made the day before had however enough to put the question of the union of the left at the center of the debates. After an interview published Wednesday morning in Liberation in which he called for “the unification of forces around a common candidate”, Arnaud Montebourg, in an “address to the people of the left” published at the end of the afternoon, underlined the danger represented by the rise of the extreme right and said he was “ready to offer his candidacy for a common project and candidate”.

“Glad things are finally moving”

Then came the real twist, at 8 p.m. on TF1, when the Socialist Party (PS) candidate, Anne Hidalgo, invited all the candidates from her political family to participate in a primary to end up with a single candidacy from the left. “Let us organize a primary of the left, that come to participate in this primary the candidates who want to govern together”, she declared, judging that “this fractured left, which despairs many of our fellow citizens, must be found, unite for govern”.

A 180-degree turn for the one who still declared that very morning on France 2 that a union on the left “would not work” and “would be perceived as artificial” because “there are candidates who have been declared for a very long time”.

Anne Hidalgo’s initiative, however, was quickly greeted by the organizers of the “popular primary”. They have been campaigning for months to bring out a common candidate on the basis of a base of ten proposals on which the PS, EELV, LFI and the PCF agree in principle.

Supported by more than 240,000 signatories, the popular primary claims a dynamic likely to create the conditions for rallying on the left. And even if the mayor of Paris did not utter the words “popular primary” Wednesday evening and that she received only negative responses, her appeal was experienced as a first victory for this citizen movement.

>> To read also: “On the strength of its momentum, the popular primary still hopes to unite the left”

“We are happy that things are finally moving with two candidates who agree to put their candidacy on the line. Now, we invite the other candidates to take their responsibilities and participate in this popular primary which can, like the primary Les Republicans with Valérie Pécresse, create a dynamic on the left “, launches Mathilde Imer, spokesperson for the popular primary, contacted by France 24.

“We are not in just any election”

Despite this displayed voluntarism, the reality of the presidential campaign and political life offers fewer prospects for union. The reasons which pushed Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg to move the lines on Wednesday, have more to do with their personal situation than their sudden awareness of the need for a rally.

In a Elabe poll published Tuesday, December 7, the mayor of Paris is thus credited with only 3% of voting intentions, while the former Minister of the Economy of François Hollande capped at 2% – two scores below the threshold of 5% allowing for reimbursement of campaign costs by the State.

Conversely, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot, in the fight for leadership on the left, still hope to make a breakthrough in the coming weeks which will allow them to appear as the useful vote on the left and thus unite. A sort of wild primary based on the polls and for which Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg now recognize to be out of the game.

“The problem is that none of them is more than 10% in the polls, deplores Mathilde Imer. And we are not in just any election: the risk is continue with Emmanuel Macron or to have Marine Le Pen or Éric Zemmour or Valérie Pécresse at the Élysée. Of course, there are differences, but we consider that what unites us is much greater than what divides us. “

The next few weeks will be decisive. Will Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot end up making the same observation as Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg if they do not take off in the polls by January? The popular primary is supposed to take place January 27-30. Enough to still leave a little time for reflection.