Alexis Delafontaine // Photo credit: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP 20:51 p.m., November 07, 2023

LFI MP Raquel Garrido, who had the misfortune to criticise Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has been sanctioned by the office of her parliamentary group. She is out of action for four months and will no longer be allowed to speak on behalf of the group. Alexis de La Fontaine, you are in the Assembly. This decision revived dissensions at the heart of France Insoumise.

There are two opposing camps over the punishment of Raquel Garrido. Those close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon have still not digested the deputy's criticism of the Insoumise leader. She doesn't play the collective enough, says one of them, who half-heartedly accuses his colleague of treason. The majority of the Insoumise group stands behind this line and approves the sanction.

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A Mélenchon clan that wants to dissuade any other protest

"I completely agree with the sanction and I think we've been waiting for a sanction for a while because there are lies. The internal democracy of a group is not only when the decisions in the end end end up on the starting position that one had oneself. When decisions are taken and we don't agree with the decisions, we have to apply them," explains Antoine Léaument, LFI MP for Essonne.

With this sentence, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's clan wants to deter any further protests. But this is not enough to frighten the rebels who are publicly defending Raquel Garrido. "A disgrace," according to Danielle Simonnet. Clémentine Autain, for her part, says she is "appalled" and François Ruffin asks for "the price list in case of divergence with the leader, who is in a minority in the party". Their strategy is simple: take voters as witnesses to put pressure on Jean-Luc Mélenchon.