“There is a problem with this new candidacy”, judged on franceinfo Saturday January 15 Patrick Mennucci, after Christiane Taubira officially announced her candidacy for the presidential election. For the member of the campaign team of the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, the candidacy of the former Minister of Justice “divides the camp of the left”. Christiane Taubira will participate in the popular citizen primary, which will take place from January 27 to 30, and has agreed to submit to the result of this consultation.
franceinfo: Are there too many applications on the left?
Patrick Menucci: Yes. Anne Hidalgo obviously believes in her candidacy. She has also tabled a program [vendredi] in Paris, unlike others, far removed from slogans and entering into reality. We believe in the candidacy of Anne Hidalgo because in reality, she is the only one who has the capacities, the history and the support which allow this country to evolve towards an ecological transition while preserving the standard of living, the quality of life of our sites and of our fellow citizens. The campaign starts again with the program and around it. We are absolutely determined to bring Anne Hidalgo to the second round of the presidential election.
We have the impression that there are no major differences between the candidacy of Anne Hidalgo and that of Christiane Taubira…
Absoutely. This is where there is a problem with this new application. On December 17, when Christiane Taubira expressed her interest, she said she would only be a candidate if she gathered. I had understood that if the candidates said: “Very well, we support Christiane Taubira”, at this time, there could be a rally. Obviously, this is not the case. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo maintain their candidacies. It divides the camp of the left of government. She has already done it in 1993 to gun down Michel Rocard’s candidacy for the European elections. In 2002 too, it was one application too many.
Is the popular primary a threat to Anne Hidalgo?
It is not possible. This is not a primary: you vote by putting a number from 1 to 5 to each candidate. We will have candidates with 35%, others with 25%, for a total of perhaps 250% of the votes! This is a ranking of candidates. There will certainly be 100,000 voters, which is very few compared to other primaries, such as that of the Socialist Party in 2017. Everyone must understand that Anne Hidalgo will be a candidate. It’s not a fad that crossed his mind, it’s a request from socialist militants.