The former socialist deputy for Corrèze and ex-mayor of Tulle will be a candidate “in the first constituency” of the department. He should speak today. Thursday evening, the former head of state (2012-2017), who is hated by a large part of the left and maintains frosty relations with the First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, said he was “favorable” to the union on the left under the banner of the New Popular Front to block the far right.
He had pleaded, in the second round, for support for the candidates best placed to “avoid the extreme right”, even if they are “LR or of the presidential majority”, defending a “principle of withdrawal” from the left on optionally. “We must all show responsibility”, “we must do everything so that the extreme right does not come to power in France”, insisted the former president.
His candidacy came as a surprise and the headliners of the left were discreet in their initial reactions. “We said that we wanted the broadest possible unity of the left,” sighs another PS executive. The former head of state “is going to be elected, he takes an easy constituency. We only have Ségolène (Royal) left, and we’re a hit. I’m devastated.”
Aged 69, François Hollande was a deputy for Corrèze from 1988 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2012. He is not the first President of the Republic to run for legislative elections after leaving the Elysée. In 1984, three years after her defeat against François Mitterrand, Valérie Giscard d’Estaing was elected deputy for Puy-de-Dôme.
“What I am delighted about is that François Hollande intervened to say that he supported the union and the New Popular Front,” reacted the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet on BFMTV. In the majority, some gritted their teeth. “It’s pathetic,” commented Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti on the same channel. “I suggest to Mr. Hollande to take as his deputy Philippe Poutou”, leader of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), also invested by the New Popular Front, “this will make a very good team”.
