The watchword of the left is “Mélenchon à Matignon”! It is written black on white in the agreement that the leader of the Insoumis had ratified by his partners. Himself repeats it so much that Emmanuel Macron had to recall that“no political party imposes a name on the president”. “Formally, it’s trueconceded Jean-Luc Mélenchon, but adding that it would not be reasonable to do otherwise”. Except that his problem is that on the left, certain candidates invested by the Nupes consider, them, that it would not be very reasonable to propel Mélenchon to Matignon.
Many outgoing socialist deputies make no mention of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in their campaign. This is the case, in particular, of Valérie Rabault, Guillaume Garot or Marietta Karamali. Some ecologist or communist candidates do the same. In fact, all of them swallowed the Nupes agreement only to avoid having a rebellious competitor in their hands. But no question of highlighting the figure of Mélenchon. Too divisive, too brutal. And then some have endured it for years. They have a little trouble accepting their turnaround. For example, the mathematician Cédric Villani, elected walking deputy in 2017. Five years ago, Mélenchon welcomed him to the Assembly by launching: “I saw the mathematician, I’m going to explain an employment contract to him, he’s going to fall to the ground”. Five years later, “the mathematician” is invested by Nupes but, in campaign, he never pronounces the name of Mélenchon.
They are many. And were illustrated this weekend, for example, by the controversy triggered by the visit of support from the former British Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn to two rebellious candidates in Paris, Danièle Obono and Danielle Simmonet. The competitor of the latter, the outgoing PS deputy Lamia El Araje, judged “ashamed” may the rebellious rejoice in this support. Corbyn was removed from his party, then from the parliamentary group, for anti-Semitism, after a long independent investigation. But he has always been defended by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Yesterday, PS boss Olivier Faure said nothing. But the number two of the party, Corinne Narassiguin, and some other socialist figures were indignant at the attitude of the Insoumis. If he managed to enter Matignon, Jean-Luc Mélenchon would undoubtedly quickly find himself struggling with the internal fractures of a very fragile majority.