He appeared about twenty minutes after the results were announced on Sunday, June 9. Live on all television channels, Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke on the evening of the first round on behalf of the New Popular Front (NFP).
He announced in a short speech that the candidates of the left bloc who came in third place would withdraw in the event of a ballot favorable to the RN. However, the leader of the Insoumis is neither party president nor a candidate for deputy. Among his left-wing allies, the unshakeable presence of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is irritating.
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The day after the first round, in the morning elections, the question was the same on everyone’s lips: in the name of what did Jean-Luc Mélenchon speak? What place does he now occupy in the left-wing alliance? “We don’t care about Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, replied the national secretary of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier on France inter. “Are you asking Jean-Luc Mélenchon to keep a low profile in this campaign between the two rounds?” Nicolas Demorand still asked her. “Those who know him know that there is no point in asking him. On the other hand, there is one thing we can all do: stop talking about it.”
“Repellent”
At the origin of these internal tensions, a left-wing alliance which was formed ” very quickly “recalls political scientist Rémi Lefebvre: “The question of leadership could not be addressed because it is too divisive. Jean-Luc Mélenchon plays on this ambiguity,” he believes. At the risk of becoming a handicap for his own camp. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon has become a deterrent for many voters, including those on the left,” notes Arnaud Mercier, professor of political communication at the University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas.
Throughout this express campaign, NFP executives have constantly attacked the nomination of Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Matignon. Sandrine Rousseau denounced this Monday morning as an instrumentalization. “Everyone knows that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not sufficiently consensual to succeed in being the person who comes out in this third round”, reacted the NFP environmentalist MP, elected on Sunday in the 9e Paris constituency. On Sunday evening, Olivier Faure reacted to - : “Jean-Luc Mélenchon cannot proclaim himself Prime Minister.” He himself had declared on June 24 that he was not “candidate for nothing”.
Facing Bardella
Alas, his name has imposed itself in the argument of the right, the extreme right and part of the former presidential majority, who are making him a red rag in their campaign. This Monday, the front page of Figaro presents Jean-Luc Mélenchon as the leader of the New Popular Front and shows him in a photo facing Jordan Bardella, under the title: “The battle begins between Bardella and Mélenchon.”
The RN president and his LR ally Éric Ciotti also shared a photomontage of Jean-Luc Mélenchon shaking Emmanuel Macron’s hand, accompanied by the New Popular Front banner, implying a supposed Macron-Mélenchon alliance. “Jordan Bardella’s supporters only wanted one thing: for Jean-Luc Mélenchon to speak, so that it would serve their cause. Besides, what did Bardella do today? He asked for a second-round debate with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, because he is convinced that it will be beneficial for him.”analyzes Arnaud Mercier.
“Damaged but very powerful”
The former MP still has a few tricks up his sleeve. He is still supported by rebellious figures: Manuel Bompard, Clémence Guetté, Mathilde Panot… “He has a very stable electoral base, around 10%”adds Rémi Lefebvre. And a great notoriety compared to other figures of the left, acquired in particular during the last two presidential campaigns: in 2022, he obtained 22% of the votes, just behind Marine Le Pen. “He is both damaged and very powerful,” confirms the political scientist.
How much weight will LFI carry in this new legislature, when the party is presenting 71 fewer candidates than in 2022? In 2022, the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), the left-wing bloc formed at the time, had obtained 151 deputies, including 75 for LFI. Sandrine Rousseau confirmed this Monday that he would have “to like” if a left-wing government were called to power, in the event of a victory for the NFP. But the spirit of the rebellious leader is elsewhere for Rémi Lefebvre: “He’s on to the next thing. His agenda, his obsession, is the presidential election.”
