Paris (AFP)

After the only missed rider of the European elections, the insubordinate France of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is low profile in the municipal elections of March by integrating to collective citizens and by returning discreetly with the formations of left.

The rebellious leader reminded his troops in June: the municipal "make sense as preparation for the popular self-organization that we wish throughout the country, until the election of 2022".

One way to say that the municipal remain secondary for LFI, by realism as much as by conviction, the young formation born three years ago often remaining poorly implanted in the local landscape.

"For a young movement like ours, to present a list to the European or a presidential candidate is easy, to pass on a gigantic scale like the municipal ones it is more complicated", recognizes the deputy Eric Coquerel.

But LFI can not ignore a vote dear to the French, who place the mayor at the top of their favorite elected, especially after the slap of European (6.3%).

"We must avoid sending a bad signal by making a bad score," said a rebellious executive, who prefers to see the good side: "By definition, LFI will not lose any city.We will bring in the executives and municipal councils of thousands of activists who will make their weapons there ".

Nantes is a case study. The Unsuspects, often already present in the local struggles, have merged into the citizen collective "Nantes in common", formed in 2018 on the victorious model of "Barcelona in common" and which gathered 800 people last weekend.

They will leave the top of the list to a figure from civil society, and will be limited to a maximum of two unsuspecting in the top 10 names, reports AFP Arthur Créhalet, the leader LFI in Nantes. Sign of this new pragmatism, they hope for fruitful discussions with EELV, party that the Europeans have placed in a position of strength (13.5%) and which in this city has already chosen its top of the list.

- "Awareness" -

Other unsubstantiated precautions: in Lille, Adrien Quatennens gave up being first on the list; in Marseille where the possibility of a candidacy of Mr. Mélenchon has a time fueled the rumor, Toulouse or Montpellier, the Insoumis have enrolled in civic processes and union left.

In Seine-Saint-Denis and in some parts of Val-de-Marne, where the Rogue have made big scores in all elections since their emergence, there are only a few examples of attempts to conquer autonomously, as in Saint-Denis where the insubordinate deputy Bally Bagayoko will lead a list opposite the outgoing PCF mayor Laurent Russier.

In many cases, the "people's federation" can be summed up as support for already constituted citizens' groups, in which insubordinate militants join other parties of the left, in other cases in lists led by a rebel by local associations.

"Failing to decide things, pretend to be the organizers," smiles the national secretary of EELV David Cormand.

Everywhere, the LFI brand is set back. The discourse of centrality on the left is no longer up to date, because the Rogue understood that they can still less than before claiming to contain the popular movement.

The coordinator Adrien Quatennens had, however, asked, before the summer, to build the lists based on "conscious surveys" carried out in the neighborhoods, a form of door-to-door campaigning around specific local struggles, which could lead to political commitment of the inhabitants. According to him, the role of LFI in the municipal is to encourage the involvement of citizens removed from politics.

But in fact, this method demanding in training, in manpower and time could not be deployed on a large scale before the validation by the electoral committee, currently in progress, of the strategies and local leaders. Pascal Troadec, Deputy Resubord to the PCF Mayor of Grigny (Val-de-Marne) and a long-time activist in the working-class neighborhoods, knows it: "Reimplicating the citizens can not be done in six months".

© 2019 AFP