The leader of La Francia Insumisa, the equivalent of Podemos in France, was the only left-wing candidate with a chance of qualifying for the second round
The lack of union of the leftist parties frustrated the pass of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La Francia Insumisa, to the second round of the French presidential elections. The far-left candidate (22%) was one point behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen (23.4%) and on the verge of qualifying for the second round.
The leader of La Francia Insumisa, the equivalent of Podemos in France, was the only candidate from the left with a chance of qualifying for the second round. In 2017, he obtained 19.58% of the votes in the first round.
The attempts of the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo to unite the different formations around a single candidacy failed. The main problem for the union of the left was the fight of egos between its candidates. No one was willing to sacrifice and close ranks around a single leftist candidate. He also weighed the “incompatible differences” between the electoral program of the Socialists and Mélenchon, more eurosceptic and populist.
The left went to the first round very divided with “Lilliputian” candidates, as defined by former socialist president François Hollande. And this ended up taking its toll on them at the polls. None of the candidates exceeded the threshold of 5% of votes, necessary for the State to reimburse the expenses of the electoral campaign.
The ecologist Yannick Jadot obtained 4.6% of the votes; the communist Fabien Roussel, 2.3%; and the socialist Anne Hidalgo, 1.7% of the vote. The least voted were the trotskyites Philippe Poutou, candidate of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), and Nathalie Arthaud, candidate of the Workers’ Struggle, and they had 0.8 and 0.6% of the support, respectively.
Mélenchon, who at the beginning of January gave an 8% voting intention, was finally benefited by the so-called “useful vote”. Faced with the black picture painted by the polls for left-wing candidates, many voters opted for Mélenchon in the first round, instead of voting for other candidates with whom they were perhaps closer ideologically.
From La Francia Insumisa they point the finger at the communists as one of the reasons why Mélenchon has not been able to qualify for the second round. They consider that, if Roussel had withdrawn and asked for the vote for the leader of La Francia Insumisa, he would have managed to qualify for the second round. In 2012 and 2017, the communists did it.
«We have lacked 500,000 votes. When we see that Jean-Luc Mélechon finishes at 22%, Marine Le Pen is one point ahead of us and that Fabien Roussel has achieved 2.5 points… We missed those votes. The second round was within reach, “lamented the deputy of La Francia Insumisa, Adrien Quatennens, in an interview with France Inter.
Ségolène Royal, former socialist candidate for the presidential elections, considered it “dramatic” that the candidates on the left who have received less than 5% of the vote have not been able to unite before the first round, preventing Mélenchon from going to the second round. .
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