Legislative: the National Council of the Socialist Party votes for a rally with LFI

Europe 1 with AFP 11:45 a.m., April 20, 2022

This is a major turning point for the PS in its strategy to consider an agreement with the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, specified a participant, even if for the moment LFI has indicated that it does not want to discuss with the PS, too critical of their candidate during the campaign.

A resolution to beat Marine Le Pen

After the catastrophic result of the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo in the first round of the presidential election (1.74% of the vote), the 300 or so members of the national council also unanimously adopted a resolution inviting voters "to beat the candidate on Sunday of the far right using the Emmanuel Macron ballot".

Regarding the legislative elections, after 4 hours of debate, 160 people voted in favor of dialogue with LFI, 75 against, 10 abstained, and 58 did not take part in the vote.

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The members of the National Council adopted by a small majority this resolution which gives a mandate to First Secretary Olivier Faure "to initiate discussions to build the rally and lead to a base of common fights and common candidacies of the left and ecology", according to the text of the resolution.

"Let's make the choice of gathering in clarity but without exception", adds the text, which underlines that "we have never believed in irreconcilable lefts, however we must not hide our differences which are sometimes deep".

According to another participant, "there was a somewhat harsh debate" but "in good standing".

He specified that the 58 people who did not take part in the vote are in particular relatives of Anne Hidalgo, and the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga, both very opposed to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

"We are openly reaching out for a discussion agreement that does not take away the specificities of anyone," party spokesman Pierre Jouvet told AFP.

"I do not wish to have Jean-Luc Mélenchon as Prime Minister of France"

The resolution underlines that "there will be no rebirth without ruptures, in our behavior, in our organizations, in our proposals".

According to another member, "there was the Hidalgo-Delga line, but it is the line of the new generation of the party that wins".

Some members of the PS have clearly marked their opposition to this line.

"I do not wish to have Jean-Luc Mélenchon as Prime Minister of France," said Senator Rachid Témal, while the head of LFI asked the French on Tuesday to elect him "Prime Minister" in the legislative elections, which they choose Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen on Sunday.

"They think we have to send a signal to Mélenchon. But when we see the level of requests from LFI, it's going to be complicated," laments another participant.

A distribution of constituencies in proportion to the scores?

LFI notably proposed to ecologists and communists a distribution of constituencies in proportion to the scores of the first round.

The text of the resolution suggests "taking into account the results of the presidential elections but also of the intermediate elections, relying on local realities, favoring common support for all outgoing deputies on the left, and planning where common candidacies second-round support for the best-placed candidate will not be possible".