“The problem we have is sponsorship and that has always been our problem”, recognizes Philippe Poutou, candidate of the NPA in the presidential election, Tuesday, November 16 on France Inter. He has collected so far “168 promises” sponsorship on the 500 signatures of elected officials that must be obtained to be able to access the presidential election. Collect these sponsorships “is a very complicated mission.”
“We are a political party and we campaign on a daily basis, and we think we have every legitimacy to participate in this election” and yet, we have to go through “a preliminary round”, explains Philippe Poutou, forced to take his car to canvass elected officials. The main campaign expenses of the NPA relate to the expenses of fuel to go to the mayors and try to convince them.
The NPA said to itself “that it would be less complicated with a face already known, already installed, and it also allowed us to better explain our legitimacy. Suddenly, for all these reasons, the organization decided that it would be me again”, explains Philippe Poutou. “It’s true that it feels weird every time to do the same thing again”, admits the municipal councilor of Bordeaux who has until March 4 to gather the 500 necessary sponsorships.
“We have to go look for these sponsorships in addition to elected officials who do not want to bother with this thing, since in fact, most of them consider that this it is not for them to choose the candidates, continues Philippe Poutou. It should be remembered that this is a democratic act. “
“It is not an act of political support and we will see in the small towns because this is where people are the most distant from political power and this is where, a priori, we have the most chances of having referrals. “
Philippe Poutou, NPA candidate for the presidential electionat France Inter
Already the NPA’s presidential candidate in 2012 and 2017, Philippe Poutou won only around 400,000 votes in these last two candidatures for this election. This time there is “Not really a quantified objective. But already, the fact of being in this election, to manage to invite oneself to a place where we are not particularly invited, it is already a victory for us. “
He thus hopes to pass “this preliminary round” to can “relaying social struggles, an anti-capitalist program, but at the same time defending perspectives other than suffering a crisis, therefore, it is always a call to resistance, to struggle and it is not a luxury in this campaign which is largely invaded by reactionary, racist or even fascist ideas “. Philippe Poutou calls for a “a movement of ‘yellow vests’ power 10.”