Thunderclap in the rebellious ranks: the deputy of the North Adrien Quatennens, convicted of domestic violence, was invested Friday evening by the left party, unlike historical figures of LFI like Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido or Danielle Simonnet, who were not renewed, announced their movement.
The case of Adrien Quatennens, outgoing deputy for the 1st district of the North, was debated among LFI’s partners on the left. But this loyalist of the leader of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon appears in the list of 230 investitures provided by his party, a few hours after the conclusion of an agreement on the left, in particular with the Socialist Party, EELV or the PCF, with a view to the election of June 30 and July 7.
“To all those who oppose or doubt the relevance of my candidacy, know that I understand you. I hope I can, humbly, and through my actions, regain your trust,” responded Adrien Quatennens in a press release. He was sentenced in December 2022 to four months’ suspended imprisonment for domestic violence.
” Shame “
Danielle Simonnet, elected in Paris, as well as Raquel Garrido and Alexis Corbière, deputies for Seine-Saint-Denis, embody discordant voices within LFI: “I am being made to pay for the crime of lèse-Mélenchon,” protested Raquel Garrido on X Friday evening. “Shame on you Jean-Luc Mélenchon. It’s sabotage. But I will do better. We will do better,” she wrote again, denouncing “disgusting methods”. Still a candidate, she promised to “win this election” despite everything.
Last fall, Raquel Garrido, formerly Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s lawyer, was sanctioned for four months by LFI for having openly criticized several members of the movement and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, around governance or the party’s strategy.
For his part, still on X, Alexis Corbière denounced “a punishment for having voiced internal criticism”. Describing this decision as “shame”, the deputy for the 7th district of Seine-Saint-Denis nevertheless clarified that he continued to support the New Popular Front which has just seen the light of day.
Invited on franceinfo this Saturday morning, he once again castigated an “irresponsible” choice, “totally petty and petty”, which “will create trouble and which is not at all up to the challenges”, while “the “The challenge is to prevent the extreme right from taking power.” “Jean-Luc Mélenchon has settled accounts with me, with my friends,” he also accused, calling for people to vote for him and the four other outgoing deputies who were excluded, to “demonstrate what type of left we want” .
As for Dominique Simonnet, she evokes “a purge” within the Insoumis, while “the extreme right is at our doors”. “While I once again brought together hundreds of citizens in my constituency this evening, by email, like four other comrades and without even a phone call, I learned that I am not invested,” she said. still indignant on the social network.
Clémentine Autain is present
Last fall, the Corbière-Garrido couple in the city was sanctioned by the LFI leadership for having criticized the internal functioning of the party. “I dared to denounce the masculinist communication of Adrien Quatennens orchestrated by Sophia Chikirou and supported by Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, “I defended the unity of Nupes, the trade union movement, and LFI during the great movement of retirements while the leadership of La France insoumise was only splitting,” she declared at the time of her imposed withdrawal.
Also very critical of the functioning of La France insoumise, Clémente Autain is, on the contrary, well present in the list of candidates nominated for the legislative elections. But on the than having defended democracy, demonstrated against anti-Semitism after October 7 and pleaded for the union of the left and environmentalists.
“LFI decides to fracture our movement and weaken the gathering,” she continued, calling “for the responsibility of the leadership of La France Insoumise and of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who called this week to throw resentments into the river “. At the time of the sanction against Raquel Garrido, the candidate from Seine-Saint-Denis had estimated that “the party does not strengthen itself by purifying itself” and that “the logic which underlies all of this is the idea that the clan would go before the movement”, in reference to Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his relatives.
“You prefer a man who hits his wife”
The outgoing LFI deputies Hendrik Davi (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Frédéric Mathieu (Ille-et-Vilaine) were also not included in this list which notably includes the CGT trade unionist Céline Verzeletti or even Lyes Louffok, activist of the child rights defender and essayist. Frédéric Mathieu denounced that LFI “chooses division” while Hendrik Davi spoke of a lack of “decency” in these evictions, which raised a wave of indignation internally, starting with François Ruffin.
The outgoing LFI deputy from the Somme was moved by the fate of his colleagues on You prefer a man who hits his wife, perpetrator of domestic violence, to comrades who have the impudence to have a disagreement with the great leader. Our democracy deserves better than you.”
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The rebellious MEP Leïla Chaibi also criticized on the same network a choice to “purge”, “shameful and irresponsible”. “These days I told myself that my rebellious France lived up to history by building union on the left in the face of the risk of the extreme right coming to power. Tonight I’m ashamed,” she snapped.
Left-wing allies criticize an “unacceptable decision”
This decision also sparked anger outside the party ranks. Invited on France 2 this Saturday, the general secretary of the Greens Marine Tondelier said she was “extremely shocked” by what she described as a “purge” at LFI. A “mistake” which “won’t go all the way,” she bet. “I have convened bodies to be able to discuss it with the Environmentalists to see what follow-up should be given to this. (…) I don’t see why we wouldn’t support the outgoing deputies,” added the number 1 of EELV.
“Purge people who are not linemen but keep Quatennens, that says a lot about your methods and your relationship 1) to feminism, 2) to disagreements,” added ecologist Marie-Charlotte Garin on X.
On the side of the PS, the deputy Arthur Delaporte provided in a message on the same network his “full support” for Raquel Garrido, Danielle Simonnet and Alexis Corbière, as well as “all the outgoing deputies purged from the list of LFI invested”. “LFI must reverse this unacceptable decision,” he urged.
The choice to invest Adrien Quatennens was also immediately commented on by one of the rivals of the New Popular Front, the RN. “It is a day of mourning for women attached to their rights and freedoms: there should be no moral and political tolerance for this violent behavior,” criticized, still on post of Prime Minister in the event of his party’s victory in the legislative elections.
