A dozen people gathered in a café in Périgueux this Sunday evening to celebrate the victory of Christiane Taubira in the popular primary. The Taubira 2022 committee in Dordogne brings together members of the radical left party, as well as people from civil society. “We hoped she would be first, we did everything for it, and that proves that when we all work together, we get there”, greeted Patrice Reboul, member of the PRG.
“It’s an unprecedented exercise in democracy”
Of the 467,000 registered, 392,738 people took part in the vote, i.e. a participation rate of 84.1%. Christiane Taubira obtained the mention Bien +, which places her in first position. She is followed by Yannick Jadot, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Pierre Larrouturou, Anne Hidalgo, Charlotte Marchandise, and Anna Agueb-Porterie. “It’s an unprecedented exercise in democracy”, analyzes Thomas Sarlat, secretary general of the PRG 24. “The impetus that this vote has just given is still real! 400,000 voters is twice as many as all the primaries that have taken place!”
Another candidate on the left?
Following the results, Christiane Taubira called for union, a call to which Yannick Jadot, Anne Hidalgo, Fabien Roussel or even Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not wish to respond. For Delphine Labails, mayor of Périgueux and member of Anne Hidalgo’s campaign team, the results of the popular primary “change nothing” in the Socialist Party campaign.
But for her supporters, Christiane Taubira is not just another candidate on the left, “it’s a candidacy above”, smiles Patrice Reboul. “She can go a little above all these battles between parties, between movements, to be able to bring out the voice of people who have not voted or who have abstained lately”, says Juliette Douard, liberal nurse and co-responsible for the Taubira 2022 committee in the Dordogne. “Thursday evening, during Christiane Taubira’s meeting, most of the participants were under 30. In 20 years of political involvement, I had never seen this! The last time we saw so many young people in meetings, it was in 1988 with at the time, the ‘tontonmania’. There somewhere, there is perhaps a ‘Taubimania’ which is being born”, adds Thomas Sarlat.
Christiane Taubira will still have to convince. Data around 5% voting intentions for the moment, his entourage hopes that the next polls will benefit from the results of the popular primary. At present, the left is at a historically low score in the polls, with only 25% of voting intentions.