The EELV candidate Yannick Jadot buried the idea Thursday morning: "No, I will not participate in a primary of the left".

He mocked at the mayor of Paris, stuck in polls which predict between 3 and 7% of the vote, "the will to break the deadlock by a surprise idea", a "sleight of hand".

Given himself in a range of 6 to 9% of voting intentions, he stressed having "already had a primary" in September.

"Anne Hidalgo is trying to find a way out, to respond with a tactical maneuver to a fundamental problem: social democracy is no longer the new historical horizon, it is ecology", tackles the coordinator of the carriers. word of Yannick Jadot, Delphine Batho, to AFP.

The rebels, whose candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been campaigning for more than a year, also reject the idea of ​​a primary, believing that the candidates have too different projects.

This primary "breathes improvisation", said Jean-Luc Mélenchon during a press briefing.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon during a meeting in Reims, October 17, 2021 FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI AFP

The former spokesperson for Sandrine Rousseau, Thomas Portes, who went to LFI, quipped "the primary as the last lifeline of candidates adrift".

"Candidates" in the plural because Arnaud Montebourg, candidate for the "Remontada de la France", himself in great difficulty, also, Wednesday, "offered (s) a candidacy for a common project and candidate".

"If you doubt your candidacy, come and join me," replied on France Info, bravache, the Communist candidate Fabien Roussel, given between 1 and 3% in the polls.

"She will reap the rewards"

Anne Hidalgo was solemn, Wednesday evening on TF1, saying to have "taken note of this situation" where seven left candidates gather less than 25% of the voting intentions.

"I know that if we do not make this rally, there will be no possibility for this left to continue to exist in our country", she declared.

The mayor of Paris and socialist presidential candidate, Anne Hidalgo, November 12, 2021 in Paris Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

The refusal of Yannick Jadot, in particular, is "irresponsible", thundered his spokesman Stéphane Troussel: "He wants to continue to despair a little more the voters of the left and environmentalists?"

"Time must do its work, but I understand that in the immediate future with the answers provided, each device resists and tries to avoid what it thinks to be a trap", observed the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure on France inter.

“It's a daring bet” by Ms. Hidalgo, agrees Sébastien Vincini, another spokesperson.

“But we hope that it will reap the rewards and that it will shake things up”.

A socialist executive confided: "The real subject is Jadot. There he said no. Will there be immense pressure for him to change his mind? Everything will be played out in the coming weeks".

He weighs the tactical gain: "This kind of blow is easier when you are at 6-7%, close to Jadot ... (...) But in terms of opinion, it can work with left-wing voters and allow it to recover a few points on the goodwill to bring together ".

Some outside the PS welcomed the initiative, first and foremost the organizers of the Popular Primary, which has been proposing for more than a year to decide between the multiple candidatures.

"Anne Hidalgo and Arnaud Montebourg have heard the will of 70% of the electorate of the left and ecology," said Mathilde Imer, spokesperson for the Primary People.

Former Minister of the Economy Arnaud Montebourg, presidential candidate 2022, makes a speech in front of the "Reconstruire" forum, on October 20, 2021 in Belfort.

SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP

His partner Samuel Grzybowski adds: "The funding is ready, the secure voting platform is ready, a lot of things are ready".

These rally activists planned "sits-in" in front of the campaign headquarters of Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Among the Greens, the member of the left wing in the executive office Alain Coulombel is furious at Yannick Jadot's response, taken without consultation: "It's lamentable, everyone will stay on the idea of ​​a balance of power. are all so afraid of the dynamics of a union of the left that they are erecting barriers ".

© 2021 AFP