The PCF candidate, who cultivates his difference, made an appointment at 3:00 p.m. at Parc Chanot for his first major national meeting.

He will defend his program for "France of happy days", presented at the end of January: Smic at 1,500 euros net, 500,000 more jobs in public services, student income from 850 euros, nationalization of EDF or even tripling of the ISF.

"The people of the left are to be conquered. They are now sulking at the ballot box, they were disappointed by a certain left which governed but did not meet expectations", affirms to the newspaper La Marseillaise Mr. Roussel , who intends to benefit from a certain dynamic around his candidacy, fueled by his outspokenness.

He is even ahead of socialist Anne Hidalgo in some polls, with 3 to 4% of voting intentions.

If he chose Marseille, it is because it is "the second city of France, a large popular city, with a lot of industrial activity and industry", he assures.

It is also the chosen land of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whom the PCF supported in 2017.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, LFI presidential candidate, February 4, 2022 in Le Mans JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

The LFI leader is still in the lead on the left according to the polls, and last Sunday's popular primary, from which Christiane Taubira emerged victorious, did not move the lines.

Ms Taubira, credited with 4 to 6%, assures the JDD that she "is not resigned" to disunity on the left and that she will go "to the end", unfolding her proposals for "a modern democracy", in order to "put an end to the presidential monarchy".

Still struggling, Anne Hidalgo goes to Lille on Sunday for a stroll alongside the PS mayor Martine Aubry, before attending the Losc-PSG football match in the evening.

PS presidential candidate and mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, February 2, 2022 in Paris Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT AFP / Archives

The candidate, who on Saturday received the strong support of former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who became president of his support committee, has just lost that of the First Secretary of the PS du Nord federation, Benjamin Saint-Huile, who left his party, believing that the left offered "a distressing spectacle".

Equality on the far right

It was also in Lille that a meeting of far-right candidate Eric Zemmour was held on Saturday, contested by hundreds of anti-racist and "antifa" demonstrators.

He criticized "the assistantship" which according to him promotes immigration, in front of 6,000 white-hot supporters.

Eric Zemmour, Reconquest candidate!

in the presidential election, in a meeting in Lille, on February 5, 2022 in the North JULIEN DE ROSA AFP

In Reims, her rival Marine Le Pen held a presidential convention in front of 4,000 activists.

The RN candidate mainly targeted Emmanuel Macron, responsible according to her for the "regression" of a "polytraumatized" and "wild" France.

According to the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, support of Mrs. Le Pen and friend of Mr. Zemmour, "on the observation of one and the other, they were to say more or less the same things".

But the ex-controversialist "continues to be brutal, hard, brittle, he is wrong to do that, it divides France", he pointed to Cnews-Europe 1.

Marine Le Pen, candidate of the National Rally (RN) for the presidential election, on February 5, 2022 in Reims STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP

Gilbert Collard, recent defector from the RN to Eric Zemmour, noted "the intelligence, the intellectual construction" of his candidate in a meeting.

But "it is clear that in the second round we will have to reconcile", with a dose of "verbal asepsis", he underlined.

The two far-right contenders are tied in an Ipsos Sopra-Steria poll at 14% in the first round, behind Valérie Pécresse (16.5%) and Emmanuel Macron (24%).

A small majority (51%) believe that the candidacy of the Head of State is beyond doubt and that he should declare himself now, for the sake of fairness with the other candidates.

But Emmanuel Macron's agenda is hardly favorable: he is expected in Russia on Monday to meet Vladimir Putin and in Kiev on Tuesday to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart, in an attempt to prevent an armed conflict.

President Emmanuel Macron in Liévin, February 2, 2022 in Pas-de-Calais Ludovic MARIN AFP / Archives

“Next week, the President of the Republic is fully President,” defended LREM MP Aurore Bergé to Franceinfo.

His camp continues to prepare nevertheless: after some bickering between tenors, it's time for the rally on Sunday.

The "common house" of the majority is organizing a large workshop in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), entitled "Let's write tomorrow with you".

Stanislas Guerini (LREM), François Bayrou (MoDem), Edouard Philippe (Horizons) and Richard Ferrand (co-president of Together Citizens) will discuss with experts, union representatives or civil society "around the challenges of the France of tomorrow".

© 2022 AFP