Please leave your seat. This is the message addressed to certain left-wing candidates in the legislative elections, who will not be invested in the framework of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). Despite the call for unity, voices are beginning to rise to demand the withdrawal of certain candidacies. Franceinfo takes stock of these disagreements which are weakening the left-wing coalition, one month before the first round of the ballot.
Danielle Simonnet called into question by the PS in the 15th district of Paris
The candidate of La France insoumise encounters resistance after her appointment by the Nupes in this constituency, which includes the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Opposite her stands the socialist Lamia El Aaraje, who describes herself as the “legitimate candidate” of the left in this territory held by the PS since 2012. Lamia El Aaraje, who is also a councilor for the city of Paris, argues that this constituency had elected her deputy in 2021, facing Danielle Simonnet precisely, before the Constitutional Council invalidated the election in January because of an irregularity noted in a competitor.
On Twitter, Lamia El Aaraje has recently welcomed the investiture of Danielle Simonnet, describing the electoral agreement as“injustice”. “A resolution requesting reparation was voted almost unanimously”, she added. In her quest for official investiture, Lamia El Aaraje is supported by several executives and socialist figures. “I fight for (his candidacy)”, declared in particular the First Secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, invited Sunday morning on RTL. The candidate dismissed by the Nupes also received the support of former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, at his side on Sunday during his press conference.
Communists against Taha Bouhafs in the 14th district of the Rhône
Barely formalized, the candidacy of the 25-year-old journalist and activist provoked the incomprehension of the communist Fabien Roussel, who retained against the young LFI candidate his conviction at first instance for racial insult (a case in which Taha Bouhafs appealed). The disappointed candidate for the presidential election, himself invested by Nupes in the North, explained Monday, May 9 in the program “Les 4 Vérités” on France 2 that he had asked La France insoumise of “see again” his candidacy to “create the conditions to win” in this constituency.
“I fully understand Michèle Picard’s anger and candidacy [maire PCF de Vénissieux] and we told La France insoumise that there was a problem”, he said in particular. Imperturbable, Michèle Picard had announced that she would present herself despite everything, and has since assumed her status as a dissident candidate. “Here in the 14th district, there is a questionable parachute against someone who knows the territory very well”, she told France 3 Rhône-Alpes, after specifying that she had voted against the electoral agreement between the PCF and La France insoumise.
Fabien Roussel facing a “rebellious” dissident in the 20th district of the North
For the communist candidate, this new electoral campaign will be done without the support of the “rebellious” Valenciennes. Well before the official announcement of the candidates invested by the Nupes, the local activists LFI had indeed warned that they would support one of their own, Eric Renaud, in the 20th district of the North, reported the Voice of the North end of April. The departmental councilor has since officially launched his campaign, surrounded by many LFI supporters who “do not digest the non-rallying of Fabien Roussel (to Jean-Luc Melenchon) before the 1st round of the presidential election” explained one of them to The Observer.
Jérôme Lambert sharply criticized in the 3rd district of Charente
The socialist candidate, outgoing MP for this constituency, is currently under fire for statements hostile to medically assisted procreation (PMA) as well as for his opposition to the law on same-sex marriage in 2013. Ideas at odds with values carried by Nupes, according to the regional branches of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts and La France insoumise, which asked their respective parties on the weekend of May 7 to invest “before Tuesday, May 10” a candidate in this constituency, “in the interest of departmental plurality”.
“I am not homophobic, otherwise I would have been fired from the Socialist Party a long time ago”, he told France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine, reacting to the accusations of an online petition as well as to the words of the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau on Twitter. Despite this growing rebellion, Jérôme Lambert, who has been the deputy for this constituency since 1997, has no intention of giving way to anyone else. “I will be a candidate under the label given to me within the framework of the agreements concluded by the union of all the left-wing parties”, he assured, referring to “A storm in a glass of water”.
The first reaction from a Nupes member party came from the Socialist Party: “There are many of us, including at the PS, to have a problem with the investiture of Jérôme Lambert”, reacted Monday evening the spokesperson of the party, Gabrielle Siry-Houari.
David Habib challenges his own party in the 3rd constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
It is a risky candidacy, but assumed by the socialist. David Habib did not receive a nomination as part of the Nupes, because his party did not manage to reserve this constituency, of which he has been a deputy since 2002. Figure of the right wing of the PS, the one who is also vice-president of the National Assembly therefore intends to campaign despite everything, and says he is not afraid of being excluded from his party, which he has described as “already dead” in an interview with The Republic of the Pyrenees. On his left wing, he should logically face a candidate from La France insoumise, whose name has not yet been announced.
Other candidates could be added to the list of dissidents
The distribution of constituencies within the framework of the Nupes is far from pleasing everyone, especially the PS. In Hérault, the socialist president of the Occitanie Region, Carole Delga, opposed this agreement by showing her support for several socialist candidates not invested by Nupes. All will face LFI candidates, notes the Sunday newspaper (article reserved for subscribers), which specifies that similar cases arise or are likely to arise in the Dordogne, in the Rhône, in the Pays-de-la-Loire or even in Ardèche. Whether they are invested by the Nupes or not, whether they decide to withdraw or enter into dissent, the candidates for the legislative elections have in any case until Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. to submit their candidacies for the first round.