The candidate of La France insoumise (LFI) in the presidential election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, strove, Sunday, December 5, to regain control by shifting the debate to the left in a pre-campaign marked by the nomination by Valérie Pécresse on the right and by the first meeting of Eric Zemmour.

The herald of LFI, which currently tops out at 10% in voting intentions for the April 2022 poll, sounded the mobilization in front of some thousand supporters gathered at the Arche de la Défense, near Paris, as began, about thirty kilometers away, in Villepinte Seine-Saint-Denis), the first meeting of Eric Zemmour.

"France is not the extreme right, France is social security, it is public health, it is emancipation, it is school, it is research, it's sharing, ”said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who, at 70, is running for the Élysée for the third time.

"The picture is almost complete: the three families are there the supporters of the great panic (...), the supporters of the great dismantling (...) and then the supporters of the great change", said the LFI candidate the day after the designation of Valérie Pécresse as LR presidential candidate.

"She said of herself that she was a third Thatcher, two thirds Merkel, which doesn't leave much good. Translated into French, that gives you two thirds Macron, one third Zemmour," he said. he added, referring to the president of the Île-de-France region.

Not "impressed" by Eric Zemmour

In a campaign preempted by the right and the far right, the leader of LFI, who claims not to be "impressed" by Eric Zemmour, officially installed Sunday the "parliament of the People's Union".

This programmatic body of 200 people is made up half of "rebels" and the other "of intellectuals, trade unionists, creators, associations, women and men who bring something of their lives. useful and profitable to the homeland ", in the words of the candidate.

Among the members of the structure are the literary woman Annie Ernaux, the historian and writer Laurent Binet or even Jean-Marc Schiappa, the father of Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior, in charge of Citizenship within of the government of Jean Castex.

A way of creating a union "from the base", while the left is weakened by the crumbling of candidates.

At the end of a speech of a little over an hour, Jean-Luc Mélenchon concluded his speech with a nod to Eric Zemmour by launching "Long live the Republic, long live France, but above all long live the Republic!" ", in response to" Long live the Republic, but above all long live France "from the far-right essayist in his candidacy video unveiled Tuesday.

With Reuters

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