The left is trying to come together for the legislative elections to counter Macron

The defeat of Marine Le Pen is "very good news for the unity of our people", reacted the leader of the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon in a speech.

But for him, "the third round begins tonight".

"The popular bloc, which was formed around my candidacy, is now the third estate which can change everything if it comes together and expands," he insisted.

With his 22% in the first round of the presidential election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who wants the French to elect him "Prime Minister", holds the keys to the rally of the left: his party started bilateral discussions at the beginning of the week with EELV, the PCF and the NPA, not yet with the PS.

Stated objective: to form a majority group in the National Assembly to impose cohabitation on a re-elected president.

But for that you have to turn the page of divisions to the left.

More open to discussion than in 2017, LFI wants to reach an agreement by April 30, which must go through a "shared program".

French presidential candidate EELV Yannick Jadot in Ivry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, March 31, 2022 Thomas SAMSON AFP

Sunday, after his vote in a school in Marseille, the rebellious leader explained that he would decide next week whether he would again be a candidate for the legislative elections in the Marseille city.

"If I was not a candidate, I must still be able to be Prime Minister," he explained.

Discussions with EELV continued over the weekend.

It relates in particular to the project but also to the distribution of the constituencies.

But nothing is decided yet.

"We want to give ourselves the means of a coalition for an alternative majority", wrote the national secretary of EELV Julien Bayou in a press release on Sunday evening, refusing "a new five-year term of climate inaction, social damage and contempt" .

But within EELV, opinions are divided.

The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot, discreet since his failure in the presidential election, called for "building the best" in the legislative elections, but is careful not to take a position for an agreement with LFI.

And Delphine Batho, former spokesperson for the campaign, reluctant to rally, defended on TF1 "a diverse majority in the National Assembly".

According to her, "the story of the three blocks", which LFI advocates, "is not representative".

The communist presidential candidate, Fabien Roussel, in Paris on April 14, 2022 EMMANUEL DUNAND AFP / Archives

"new left"

With the Communists, discussions resume on Monday.

"We need a majority on the left in the Assembly", underlined the leader of the PCF Fabien Roussel in a speech, calling once again for "a global agreement" with the other forces of the left, "avoiding any division in constituencies that already have left-wing MPs".

A way for the communist to defend his historical partners of the PS, strong of 30 outgoing deputies, but that LFI snubs for the moment.

The Socialist Party voted by a majority on Tuesday for a rapprochement with LFI, "an important political act", according to Pierre Jouvet, in charge of negotiations at the PS, after years of war with the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Pierre Jouvet is hoping for a meeting at the start of the week.

"The left must come together without exception, that it demonstrate that it can carry a common project", also called on Sunday evening the First Secretary Olivier Faure, who for a week has been reaching out to Jean-Luc Mélenchon .

But his party is divided on this position.

Thus, the former presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo, who has always violently criticized Jean-Luc Mélenchon, called in a statement "all the forces of this democratic left, which has been able to block the worst today, to s 'uniting to rebuild a new left', without reference to LFI.

The First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, February 2, 2022 in Paris Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP / Archives

And the former socialist president François Hollande, who does not rule out running for the legislative elections in June, was pessimistic, voting in Tulle, on a "third round" winner for the left: "I know the song The first verse is encouraging but at the end there is also quite a strong abstention, because the voters consider that a lot has been played out at the time of the presidential election.

© 2022 AFP