Just next to the Old Port of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Ahmed reads the newspaper on his bench, Monday April 25. Inside, there are the results of the presidential election but above all a lot of questions about the sequence of events, especially on the left. “Is it going to pass the story of the left? I’m not sure”, he says doubtfully. Arrived in third position in the ballot, the leader of La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, calls for the legislative elections to be a “third round”.
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Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to create a majority in the National Assembly to be able to lead the country and prevent the application of Emmanuel Macron’s program. The rebellious pose nevertheless heavy conditions to ally with the communists the ecologists and the socialists. “We are going to have two blocks: the left and Macron. It will block the road to the National Rally”, aspires Ahmed. In the second city of France, the candidate of La France insoumise easily came first in the first round.
If, on paper, the idea has something to appeal to LFI supporters, Marseille voters have a hard time believing it. “Given what happened in the first round, I doubt”, slips Eliane, thus estimating that if the presidential candidates have not succeeded in organizing a joint candidacy for the first round, it seems unlikely that they will be able to do so in view of the legislative elections. However, she wants a gathering of the different parties “so that there is a real left represented”.
Daniel, too, has trouble seeing how all the left-wing parties will be able to come to an agreement. “I don’t really see the point of Mélenchon being Prime Minister. It will be a little rosy revenge, but will it have a daily impact on the lives of French people? I doubt it.” He who has always voted on the left bursts out laughing when asked if this rally should be done with the Socialists. “The PS no longer exists! It has become self-core”he laughs.
Burst of laughter revealing real dissension. With whom to make an alliance? And above all, for what? “There is nothing in common between Mélenchon and Hidalgo”, summarizes Jean-Paul. Can they unite on their hatred of Emmanuel Macron’s program?
“When you want to lead the country, it’s on a program, with a project and ideas, not by saying that you’re going to oppose Macron. You have to lead the country.”
Jean-Paul, left-wing voterat franceinfo
There are only the youngest, in Marseilles, to believe in the union of the left. “If you don’t believe in it, it leads nowhere! You have to believe in it”pleads Anaïs, 19 years old. “We have to talk about it and make people aware that we have to go and vote in all the elections. There are none that are more important than others. Maybe it won’t happen and I I’m still under the illusion because I’m young but it doesn’t matter.” The main thing, for Anaïs, is to hope – as Jean-Luc Mélenchon points out – “that another world is still possible”.