Mélenchon, the last dance
Audio 02:44
Campaign posters of the French far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, December 5, 2021, during a meeting in La Défense, in the Paris suburbs.
© AP - Adrienne Surprenant
By: Aurélien Devernoix
2 min
He dreams aloud of an
electoral "
mouse hole
" that would allow him to sneak into the second round of the presidential election next April and why not impose himself there.
But for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the trend today is rather towards elimination from the first round, when he has already announced that it would be his final presidential candidacy.
But this last dance conceals an almost total vagueness on his intentions and on the future of his political movement in the event of defeat.
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He promised it, it will be the last, the last fight, the mother of all battles and if that doesn't work, basta! “
I am 70 years old, my career is behind me,
” recalls Jean-Luc Mélenchon regularly. No question of resuming for a fourth presidential candidacy. The Insubordinate would even hesitate to seek a new mandate as deputy. The transplant has not really taken in Marseille, its current constituency. "
We do not know at all what he wants to do
",
recognizes a framework of rebellious France (LFI).
"
He has long had the idea of creating a foundation or a political think tank
,"
recalls François Cocq, former close to the rebellious leader, who has since supported Arnaud Montebourg.
"
He has always seen himself as an intellectual, but everything will depend on his score in the presidential election.
If it's higher than expected, it will be difficult for him to get out of the game,
”continues the one who was one of the founders of the Left Party, the ex-movement of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The war of succession has already started among the rebels
If no dissension has yet been publicly displayed, the swords are sharpening in the shadows.
On the one hand there are the old grognards, fellow travelers of Jean-Luc Mélenchon like the deputy Alexis Corbière and on the other the new guard, which has emerged over the past five years, like the northerner Adrien. Quatennens, very popular among the militants.
But other ambitions could be revealed within the parliamentary group: Clémentine Autain, strong of his good campaign in the last regional elections or the unclassifiable François Ruffin.
"
But we should not count on Jean-Luc Mélenchon to designate a successor,
" said François Cocq, "
because basically he believes that no one is up to the task
."
Without a natural leader, the risk of weakening
Leaving a movement without a leader is a major political risk, unless you recompose the political current.
It is for this reason in particular that a new structure was launched on the occasion of this campaign: the Popular Union, which should make it possible to bring new blood into the ranks.
Because the French left risks to start again from a blank page in 2022 and we must not miss the turn.
“
Maybe we will rebuild in a more collegial way
,” says rebellious MEP Manuel Bompard, “
in any case, we have to cut the cord one day
.
”Unless of course Jean-Luc Mélenchon clings to it.
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French politics
Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Presidential France 2022