French legislative: Carole Delga and the delicate anti-Nupes slingshot
Carole Delga (PS), plays the dissidence card against Nupes.
The president of the Occitanie region (in the c.) here alongside the former mayor of Perpignan, Jean-Marc Pujol (LR), and the president of the departmental council of Pyrénées-Orientales Hermeline Malherbe (PS).
© AFP/Raymond Roig
Text by: Aurélien Devernoix
4 mins
Like former President François Hollande and ex-Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, Carole Delga is trying to resist the steamroller of the Nupes, by supporting dissident candidacies for the union of the left.
“
A question of values and coherence
”, repeats the socialist president of the Occitanie region.
But the exercise is a balancing act, causing tension and misunderstanding.
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From our special correspondent in Ariège,
“
The French want union but by bringing people together and not just parties.
La Nupes
, for Carole Delga it's "
no
"
.
Too far from local issues, not clear enough on major subjects for the president of Occitanie, such as energy or secularism.
For weeks, she has been criss-crossing her region to encourage resistance to Parisian diktats, like her trip to Foix in Ariège.
►Also listen: Nupes: a winning choice?
The place is perfect to explain its alternative strategy: to propose an “
institutional pack
” starting from the local to go to the national.
Foix is led by a socialist mayor, the department is also in the bosom of the PS, the local senator is also from the rose party, and the region, therefore, led by
Carole Delga
.
A political stranglehold where only the deputies are missing.
What justify the need for candidacies defended by local socialists.
The problem is that the two constituencies of Ariège are already on the left, but occupied by rebels.
“
Deputies who either are invisible or systematically oppose everything we propose
”, tries to justify the president of the Departmental Council of Ariège, Christine Téqui, who refuses “
the big gap that the management is trying to impose National Party of the PS
”.
Carole Delga, for her part, castigates elected officials who only deal with national issues: "
You have to be more on the ground, two days a week in Paris, that would be enough
".
And to praise the local roots of the candidates it supports.
When it's blurry, there's a wolf
But on the side of the voters, it is the big blur.
Carole Delga is indeed campaign director for Joël Aviragnet in the neighboring department of Haute Garonne.
A socialist officially labeled Nupes, his constituency being part of the National Accord brokered by the PS.
Hence misunderstandings about the strategy led by the president of the region.
Especially since Carole Delga announces that she will call to vote for the Nupes candidates, including Insoumis, in the event of a second round pitting them against opponents RN, LR but also Together!
“
I have always been very clear, between right and left, I always choose the left.
»
A risky bet for Carole Delga
In the background, Carole Delga is thinking about her national destiny: she is betting that Nupes will quickly implode, but that the need for union will always be present.
She will thus organize general states of the left after the legislative elections, to try to emulsify the dissatisfied and put them behind her.
But there is no question of leaving the bosom of the PS.
A congress is organized in the fall and if the party emerges weakened from the legislative elections, L'Occitane could try to wrest it from the hands of the current 1st secretary Olivier Faure.
But the response is already preparing for the national leadership: exclusions of dissidents will be announced, weakening the position of Carole Delga during the internal vote in Congress.
A socialist executive believes that she “
did not know how to exploit her political moment
”.
Support for
Anne Hidalgo
at the start of the presidential campaign, the patron saint of Occitania, then distanced herself.
Enough to avoid being associated with
the electoral crash of the mayor of Paris
, while continuing to embody her political line, firm in particular on issues of the Republic and secularism.
But her attempt to abort the discussions with France Insoumise isolated her and made her speech inaudible, judges the same socialist framework: “
Carole Delga is the left that has more adjectives to define itself than voters.
»
He predicts that it will have difficulty electing other deputies than outgoing members who have accepted the Nupes label.
In the Delga camp, we are much more optimistic, hoping for up to twenty dissidents in the National Assembly.
►
To read also
: Dissent in the legislative elections, shared poison for the Nupes and the majority
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