Jean-Luc Mélenchon calls on the French to "elect Prime Minister" during the legislative elections
Jean-Luc Mélenchon during his campaign rally at the Palais de la Musique et des Congrès in Strasbourg, eastern France, on January 19, 2022. AFP - PATRICK HERTZOG
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The third man in the presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon asked the French on Tuesday to elect him "Prime Minister" in the June legislative elections, whether they choose Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen next Sunday.
Advertisement
Read more
The leader of the Insoumis had shown himself to be combative on the evening of the first round, when he had collected 21.95% of the votes, placing himself well ahead on the left
but failing to some 400,000 votes in the second round
, behind the candidate of the National rally.
He then seemed to hand over to his troops, dropping at the end of the speech: "
Do better
" in the presidential election of 2027, for which he promised not to be a candidate.
This Tuesday evening, after having spent part of the day discussing with his lieutenants in a parliamentary inter-group meeting, he rather projected himself towards a very immediate fight, namely the legislative elections of June 12 and 19.
"
I ask the French to elect me Prime Minister
" by voting for a "
majority of rebels
" and "
members of the Popular Union
" in these elections, he said on BFM TV, in his first statement. public since April 10.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon): "I ask the French to elect me Prime Minister, (...) I ask them for that to elect a majority of rebellious deputies" pic.twitter.com/XSHUP88tfZ
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 19, 2022
Jean-Luc Mélenchon therefore aims to impose cohabitation on the future winner of the presidential election, with which he excludes any "
negotiation
".
And this, whether it is Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen.
He also repeated that he would give no other instruction in the second round than "
not a voice to Mrs. Le Pen
", who embodies "
total contradiction
" with her "
harmony
" program.
But "
the question of who is president at that time
" of cohabitation does not count in his eyes, because "
it is the Prime Minister who signs the decrees
", he said, adding that he wanted to apply his program .
An
enlarged "
popular union "
The operation promises to be difficult, but rebellious strategists have estimated in recent days, like campaign manager Manuel Bompard, that the "
legislative elections would be more important than usual because the president will be the worst elected in the Fifth Republic
”.
Blame it on a high potential abstention.
► To read also: Presidential in France: these key moments which marked 50 years of debates between the two rounds
To succeed in mobilizing in legislative elections traditionally less popular with voters, the Insoumis hope to give the image of an
enlarged "
popular union ".
To this end, they called on Europe Écologie-Les Verts, the French Communist Party and the New Anti-Capitalist Party to rally behind them and their program, proposing that the allocation of constituencies be applied to the proportionality of the results of the first round.
Julien Bayou, the leader of the Greens, replied that he hoped for more.
But he also said on Tuesday that he expected the negotiations to be completed by the end of next week.
Another EELV executive even deemed it "
achievable
", in front of journalists, that there would be an agreement "
by the end of the week to give hope
" to left-wing voters, who will vote reluctantly on Sunday. in the second round.
(
With
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Presidential France 2022
France
Jean-Luc Melenchon
Emmanuel Macron
Marine Le Pen