Every morning, Nicolas Beytout analyzes political news and gives us his opinion.

This Friday, he returns to the announcement of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The president of rebellious France declared himself a candidate for the 2022 presidential election on the condition of obtaining his 150,000 sponsorships.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon's candidacy for the 2022 presidential election is official.


Yes, since this night he gathered the 150,000 Signatures needed to get started.

It was he who had set this condition, when he announced his intention last Sunday on TF1.

A funny choice, moreover, with a timing quite offset in relation to the concerns of the French and the Covid crisis.

And then this story of 150,000 signatures, it was a bit of a gimmick from someone who claims 500,000 members of his movement.


In any case, it's done.

Here it is, it is the end of a false suspense which will have lasted a few months all the same.

Because within La France Insoumise, this story is not obvious.

The machine got a little out of order after its leader slipped during searches of his home and party headquarters (the famous "the Republic is me").

Since then, the movement has found several opportunities to divide, around Islamo-leftism, or more recently after the death of Samuel Paty and the questioning by Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Chechen community.

In short, the candidacy of the maximo leader was more or less discreetly debated.

This will be his third presidential candidacy.

His followers recall with relish that François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac and Joe Biden were elected on their third try.

But until it's enough to win, there is a step.

Because all these historical victors that his clan invokes have one quality in common: they have gathered beyond their camp.

While Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it's the opposite: he divides.

Yet an Elabe poll has just designated him as the personality who most embodies the left.

Yes, but the same poll shows that only 23% of French people recognize him as presidential, an ability to occupy the post.

He worries, he cleaves.

Ah yes, he wants to unite the left, to create what he calls "a majority of membership".

But all behind and him in front.

This is also why he is launching so early in the race: you have to occupy the ground that others will claim.

I am thinking in particular of the Greens.

They did not have a candidate in 2017, but after the buoyant wave of municipal elections, they will not miss the next presidential check mark.

And relations with Yannick Jadot are also strained.

And with the socialists?

It's simple, the boss of La France insoumise hates the PS, which gives him back.

No, the Socialists, at the moment, have their eyes turned to Anne Hidalgo, on the grounds that she was able to bring together the left in Paris.

So, with the officialization of the Mélenchon candidacy, the scenario of the division of the left has just gained credibility.

And if there is one who must say a big thank you to the pro-Mélenchon signatories, it is Emmanuel Macron.

His chances of being in the second round in 2022, against Marine Le Pen, have suddenly taken a big leap forward.