Politics, the choice of the week
The battle of the useful vote
Audio 02:34
The Insoumis candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon during his meeting on the Prado beach, in Marseille, on March 27.
AP - Daniel Cole
By: Aurelien Devernoix
3 mins
A week before the presidential election in France, tempers are heating up among the candidates, and in particular those who are within reach of qualifying for the second round.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon in particular, for the moment in third position in the voting intentions, multiplies the calls to the voters of his competitors on the left, to catch up and hope to be present on April 24.
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Above all, do not talk to them about a useful vote in favor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a hives crisis guaranteed for Yannick Jadot, Anne Hidalgo or Fabien Roussel.
No way for these candidates to pave the way for a siphoning rule of their voters, even if their chances of qualifying for the second round are slim.
A presidential election is a "vote of conviction" hammer the ecologist, the socialist and the communist.
Yannick Jadot even believes that the real useful vote is him, where Fabien Roussel refuses to have the voters "mowed" on the back, on the grounds that his candidacy would be useless.
And the left-wing candidates to embark on the long list of their disagreements with Jean-Luc Mélenchon: international politics, nuclear or secularism...
Obviously in the Mélenchon camp the feeling is different
Of course, because at the same time their candidate is clearly progressing in the voting intentions, but the distance which separates Jean-Luc Mélenchon from Marine Le Pen for the moment 2nd, and therefore qualified, is maintained.
The urgency begins to be felt on the side of the Insoumis.
But they know that the call for a useful vote is not necessarily well received by voters.
Another problem, the concept goes against their principles, the Insoumis have often denounced the “useful vote” card from the Socialist Party when it dominated the left.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon has therefore changed his speech by highlighting on the one hand the convergence of his program with that of the ecologists and the communists and on the other the need to block Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
The National Rally candidate is also starting to think about the useful vote
Yes, by already planning for the second round.
Marine Le Pen thus judges that she could well represent this time the useful vote for the voters of the left and in particular those of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
She believes that they will prefer to vote for her, who defends retirement at 62, rather than for Emmanuel Macron who wants to push back the retirement age to 65.
Moreover, if the left-wing electorate decides to shun the ballot box, it would also be to the advantage of the RN candidate, because he had voted overwhelmingly for Emmanuel Macron in 2017, in the name of the dam on the far right.
A new concept would then appear, in favor of Marine Le Pen: useful abstention.
... © FMM Graphic Studio
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French politics
Presidential France 2022
France
Jean-Luc Melenchon