The lightning campaign for the first round of early legislative elections ends at midnight this Friday. In this final stretch, Raphaël Glucksmann, Socialist Party-Place publique MEP comes to support Florence Hérouin-Léautey and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol in Rouen (Seine-Maritime), during a meeting, Place de la Cathédrale, Friday June 28. Deputy to the City of Rouen and departmental councilor, she is the candidate of the New Popular Front in the 1st constituency of Seine-Maritime, with the mayor of Rouen, number 2 of the Socialist Party, as substitute.
Find all the results of the first round of the 2024 legislative elections
Raphaël Glucksmann and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol answered questions fromWest France.
Raphaël Glucksmann, why did you choose Rouen as the last stage of the campaign before the first round?
In Normandy, the threat of the extreme right is very clear in view of the results of the European elections. In Rouen, we will make the final push before the first round with this essential goal which is to prevent the National Rally (RN) from having an absolute majority in the Assembly on July 7. This is our only obsession.
Can we say that there is a form of denial of reality on the part of voters regarding the arrival of the RN to power?
Raphael Glucksmann: This denial is installed everywhere, not only within the population. It is present in the elites, in the media, in the political class. This denial is that of the shift that the takeover of power by the RN would represent.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : if the RN takes power, there will be a questioning of abortion, we will explain to you that public broadcasting is over, that public schools or the fight for the climate are no longer the priority, that Ukraine is not our war. This is the reality of the far right in power.
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The left quickly organized itself the day after June 9 to form the New Popular Front, despite a very tough European campaign by the Insoumis against you. Did concessions have to be made?
Raphaël Glucksmann : yes it was difficult and no it is not a marriage of love. But there is a hierarchy of threats and priorities, that is to say preventing the RN from winning an absolute majority.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : it is obvious that Emmanuel Macron’s allies will not be able to have a majority, nor to put up a barrier. So the only democratic way to prevent the far right from winning is to vote for the candidates of the New Popular Front. That doesn’t silence the differences or the disagreements, but politics is about elections and at some point you have to choose.
What do you say to voters who say you betrayed your beliefs by creating this alliance?
Raphaël Glucksmann : a little more than 70% of voters are preparing to vote for the New Popular Front, others refuse because they have LFI candidates in their constituency, some are torn. This tension is perfectly legitimate. But to be moral is to know what the worst danger is and to do everything to avoid it. Here, France is moving towards the extreme right.
If the left wins, there is a chance that the Prime Minister will be a rebel…
Raphael Glucksmann: Today, there is not a poster in France that says “Mélenchon Prime Minister”, for the simple reason that Jean-Luc Mélenchon will not be Prime Minister.
Do the rebels dominate the New Popular Front?
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : our coalition has nothing to do with 2022. At the time, Nupes was a submission for electoral reasons to the extent that LFI and Jean-Luc Mélenchon had made 22%, where the other left-wing parties had made less of 4 %. There, things were completely rebalanced. I would never have joined this coalition if we were dominated, marginalized.
The majority refers back to back to “the extremes”, in reference to the New Popular Front and the National Rally. What does this inspire you?
Raphael Glucksmann: the rhetoric of the presidential camp on the rejection of “extremes”, “civil war” carries an immense risk of paving the way for the RN and preventing a republican front in the second round. And history will judge that.
This means that you will call for votes for LFI or majority candidates in certain constituencies during the second round?
Raphaël Glucksmann: I want us to be responsible for everyone else by calling, whatever the position of others, for the creation of a Republican roadblock in the second round.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : We were millions to have taken our responsibilities by voting for Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and in 2022 in the second round to block the extreme right and today the President’s response would be “neither-nor” when he is responsible for this situation? The “neither-nor” is “neither courage-nor responsibility”.
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These European elections breathe new life into social democracy in France.
Raphaël Glucksmann: There is immense expectation and hope. Many voters who voted for either Jean-Luc Mélenchon or Emmanuel Macron in 2022, being torn, have joined us. There is a need, in France, to have a pro-European democratic left that is able to dominate the political debate. This is the fight of my life and I will fight it relentlessly. But first, let’s block the road to the worst.
