EDITORIAL. Is the designation of a single candidate for the perch a sign of progress in the left bloc?

The communist, André Chassaigne is the sole candidate of the New Popular Front for the presidency of the National Assembly. A step forward certainly, but for Matignon, it is another matter.

Appointing a single candidate for the presidency of the perch certainly marks progress on the left, but be careful: it was played out at the level of Parliament where there is a clear desire to be united, to carry a left-wing voice and to weigh in the chamber. The deputies are less into the machine games. Not to mention that they are directly faced with feedback from voters who tell them how much the quarrels, divisions, insults and petty negotiations within the left bloc distress them.

Nothing to do with the discussions for Matignon. Two rooms, two atmospheres! For Matignon, we are in a logic of parties, of apparatuses, with discussions of conclaves. And there, for the moment, the negotiations are at a standstill. No name seems to create consensus. The New Popular Front cannot reach an agreement. It is an impasse. From there to say that within the New Left Front, the divorce is consummated, let us say already that, for there to be a divorce, it would have been necessary for the marriage to be very real between the socialists and the rebellious.

However, this alliance looks more like a marriage of convenience, the kind you make to get papers – understand enough votes to get elected, to block the RN or Macronism, more than a true marriage of love, feelings, passions. Between these spouses, the lines, the visions of the world seem so far apart on subjects as important as nuclear power, industry, or even secularism that it is hard to see how simple cohabitation under the same roof is possible, even in a house built in a hurry, even with such a well-kept frontage, which refers to the imagination of the initial Popular Front, that of 1936 which marked social struggles, and promised a brighter future.

How to get out of it? That’s the whole problem because in reality, each party wants to slam the door, but neither wants to take the initiative to break up. That would be taking the risk of appearing in the eyes of voters as the traitor, the bad sleeper, the one trampling on the hope of unity. La France Insoumise does not want to hear about compromise, and does not intend to govern if the conditions are not those it intends to impose. The socialists, for their part, would like to join a government bloc.

The fact remains that by waiting too long to tell the truth, to pronounce the inevitable split, the supporters of this new Popular Front expose themselves to one thing: the anger of voters who feel, rightly, duped, betrayed and manipulated. Not to mention that the chances for André Chassaigne, a member of parliament with recognized experience, to reach the rostrum remain uncertain to say the least.