Regional 2021: towards a standoff in Paca on the issue of the Republican front

Published on : 06/21/2021 – 10:07

To withdraw by making a cross on seats in the regional council or to maintain by taking the risk of a victory of the extreme right? This is the difficult choice that the left is facing in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Paca), where the ecologist Jean-Laurent Félizia – supported in the first round in particular by Europe Écologie-Les Verts (EELV), the Parti socialist (PS) and the Communist Party (PCF) – arrived in the first round of regional, Sunday, June 20, third with 16.89% of the vote, behind the candidate of the National Rally Thierry Mariani (36.38%) and the president outgoing Les Républicains Renaud Muselier (31.91%).

>> To read: Regional 2021: what to remember from the first round of the ballot

For Jean-Laurent Félizia, the choice of maintaining was made on Sunday evening: “We had a collective debate, because it is our way of operating, and we decided, if the final results confirm the trends, to maintain the voice of the left and ecology in the second round of this election, “he said on Twitter.

The left-wing candidate believes that “the incumbent [Renaud Muselier] should be in a position to win “against Thierry Mariani and that there is therefore no reason for left-wing voters to once again experience” the erasure of their values ​​and their ideas “.

The left is no longer represented in the regional council of Paca since Christophe Castaner, then head of the Socialist Party list, ended up withdrawing from the second round in December 2015 to avoid a victory for Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.

>> To read: Regional 2021: Thierry Mariani, the lethal weapon of Marine Le Pen in Paca

Faced with a less important threat of victory from the far right, Jean-Laurent Félizia opts for a different choice, even if it means causing many waves.

Félizia “of course” excluded from EELV in case of maintenance

Two of the three candidates declared for the party primary for the presidential election, Yannick Jadot and Éric Piolle, quickly declared Sunday evening that they did not support this decision. Then the executive office of EELV called, late in the evening, “to block the extreme right in Paca and will not support the list of ‘ecological and social gathering’ if it were to be maintained”.

The spokesperson of the party, Eva Sas, asked “solemnly”, Monday on LCI, Jean-Laurent Félizia to withdraw his list. And the boss of EELV, Julien Bayou, affirmed a few minutes later on Franceinfo that his candidate in Paca would be “of course” excluded from the party if he maintained himself despite everything.

On the side of the PS, the speech is the same: “I solemnly call for the withdrawal of the list led by Jean-Laurent Félizia. No risk can be taken against the extreme right,” he tweeted on Sunday evening .

Response from the person concerned: “The Parisian staffs are sometimes disconnected from the reality on the ground. It is a collective decision that we assume.”

The standoff is likely to last until the closing of the filing of the lists for the second round. This is set for Tuesday, June 22 at 6 p.m.