Paris (AFP)
Benoît Hamon, socialist presidential candidate in 2017, confirmed Tuesday evening to the Parisian that he would appear on the environmentalist list of Julien Bayou for the June regional in Ile-de-France, in second position in the Yvelines.
In 2017, the former minister and rebel PS had received the support of the ecologist Yannick Jadot, which did not prevent him from a rout in the first round (6.36%).
This time, Mr. Hamon, who founded the Generations movement before stepping back from politics in recent years, joins the green candidate, EELV's number one.
"Even if I have a lot of respect for Clémentine Autain (head of the LFI list) and Audrey Pulvar (head of the related PS list), it is Julien Bayou, who (...) best embodies the level of requirement and ecological and social emergency to which I aspire for our region, "he told the Parisian.
With three left-wing candidates on the starting line, the regional in Ile-de-France are shaping up to be a barometer of the balance of power between environmentalists, communists, socialists and rebels, one and a half years from the presidential election.
The rare polls show for the moment a neck-to-neck between Audrey Pulvar, deputy mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, and Julien Bayou (14% and 15%), ahead of Clémentine Autain around 10%.
But all are given largely beaten by the current president of the region Valérie Pécresse (ex-LR, Libres! 30%).
If Benoît Hamon thus sketches a return to politics at the age of 53, he does however “not at all intend to become a leading political actor again” nor to be a candidate in 2022.
He will support during the presidential election "the one who will take into account in his program the universal income", which was already his hobbyhorse in 2017.
© 2021 AFP