what potential Prime Minister for the new Popular Front in the event of victory?

The new popular front finalized its agreement for the legislative elections on Thursday. There remains the question of the Prime Minister which agitates the left.

Who should be put at the head of the gondola for the new popular front? At the RN it is clear, it is Jordan Bardella, for the Macronists it is also clear with Gabriel Attal. But on the left, the question of incarnation to possibly access Matignon is not a small subject. A fortiori because the media which are going to organize debates find themselves faced with a pitfall: who to invite in the face of Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella? Jean-Luc Mélenchon was indeed requested but the rebellious leader declined the invitations, explaining on “the new Popular Front has not yet designated its prime minister candidate.”

And yet Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not rule out being Prime Minister. He recalled that he was “able” to go to Matignon but without trying to impose yourself. It must be said that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not unanimous. “It would be a catastrophe for the Popular Front” slices a socialist, “we need figures who unite”, blurted another. Those who were hostile to the Nupes and decided to join the Popular Front to counter the extreme right say it openly: “Jean-Luc Mélenchon is disqualified”, according to the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer Rossignol. “Under no circumstances will he be Prime Minister,” insists the president of Occitanie Carole Delga. A communist parliamentarian also said “niet” even if an elected environmentalist is circumspect. “I don’t see how we do it with Mélenchon, I don’t see how we do it without Mélenchon,” she says.

The rebellious François Ruffin and the communist leader Fabien Roussel also made offers of service. A socialist suggests the name of Boris Vallaud, boss of the outgoing PS group, or Valérie Rabault, until now vice-president of the National Assembly. On the left, some would also like women’s names to emerge and “not systematically men’s names”, quoting Carole Delga, or the rebellious Clémentine Autain. Those close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon specify for all intents and purposes that it will be the largest group in the future Assembly to propose a name, knowing that the rebels have the most nominations. But the other parties do not despair of having more weight between the three of them. Many on the left especially want to procrastinate. “First we win, then we decide who for Matignon”, believes an environmentalist MP. A rebellious person recommends putting forward “a team, in the spirit of the Sixth Republic”A “pack” completes a communist, around the party leaders: Fabien Roussel, Olivier Faure for the PS, Marine Tondelier for the ecologists, and François Ruffin just to get around the Mélenchonists… In short, rather a government than a Prime Minister. Which does not necessarily resolve the question: who to debate with Jordan Bardella and Gabriel Attal?