Damien Mercier has become a regular at electoral meetings in the second constituency of Indre. Candidate under the banner of Lutte Ouvrière (LO), he has already presented himself during the legislative elections of 2017 and 2022 – reaching 1.96% for the latter –, but also against the lists of André Laignel and Christopher Albarao, during 2020 municipal elections.
When the dissolution of the National Assembly and the rapid holding of new elections were announced, he did not hesitate for a single moment, accompanied by Nathalie Doiseau as substitute: “We appear very little in the media and the elections cause a renewed interest among the population. This gives us the opportunity to address people who don’t see us elsewhere. »
“If the world of work does not start fighting, things cannot change”
Now retired, this former specialist educator in Belfort (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) moved to Berry to be closer to part of his family. And his activism is not new. As a teenager during the events of May 1968, Damien Mercier joined the high school action committees before joining the ranks of Lutte Ouvrière in 1973.
And since then, he has never stopped fighting for workers. “We have no illusionsconfides the Trotskyist candidate. At the head of the country, all those who are there will continue to worsen the crisis and the plight of the workers. If the world of work does not start fighting, things cannot change. »
In this blitzkrieg, with tight deadlines for all the candidates, the operations of collages and leaflets, whether in front of Isolde companies like Safran or on the markets, follow one another. “We do what we can, but we give ourselves the means to present ourselves in as many places as possible, in more than 550 constituencies. »
“We are internationalists”
During the last legislative elections of 2022, the National Rally received 41.95% of the votes. An advance that Damien Mercier wants to fight at all costs: “We are internationalists, it is an essential value. For us, all workers of all countries must unite and the National Front is the enemy of the workers.”
However, there is no question of supporting the left bloc and the New Popular Front: “Those who have direct responsibilities are the various successive left-wing governments which, once in power, abandoned all their promises to serve big business,” affirms the candidate, before continuing: “We do not trust politicians who come to change the fate of workers. Only they, mobilized, will be able to help improve things. »
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