who are the three lesser-known candidates for the popular Primary?

There are seven candidates on the starting line, but only four of them accept the rules of the game. Those registered in the Popular Primary are invited to vote from Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 January, to nominate, among seven personalities of left, the one that will be supported by the organization for the presidential election. The 466,895 registered voters will be able to vote on the internet. On the other hand, the main left-wing candidates (Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo) still refuse to participate in this citizens’ initiative independent of political parties.

In the shadow of Christiane Taubira and other names from the left and ecology, three candidates are on the list. franceinfo presents them to you.

1Pierre Larrouturou

“To avoid Chaos, change the game today”, here is the slogan of the popular primary candidate Pierre Larrouturou. Founder of the Nouvelle Donne party and author of the book Today the spirit revoltshe was elected in 2019 to the European Parliament on an alliance list with the PS and Place Publique, and is currently the budget rapporteur for the European Parliament.

Pierre Larrouturou believes in rallying to the left. “I believe that unity is our only chance to winhe said on franceinfo radio, on December 9. Primary works. Three months ago, no one thought there would be a primary on the right, but the right was able to come together and there we saw that Valérie Pécresse took 8 or 10 points in the polls. So the right came together. Are the left and environmentalists irresponsible enough not to do this?

The MEP regrets that the candidates on the left are “making people desperate” while remaining disunited. He recently made a name for himself by participating in a ten-day hunger strike alongside eleven left-wing activists. Objective: to urge left-wing candidates to nominate a common candidate for the presidential election.

What does the candidate offer? Among its main measures, a “finance-climate pact” which would represent a set of public aid for in particular the thermal insulation of housing, the massive development of public transport or even aid for farmers and the most precarious. But also a tax on speculation. according to him, would create 900,000 jobs. He also wants the four-day work week which he considers the potential for job creation at 1.6 million. Pierre Larrouturou is campaigning for the four-day week in order to “better distribute working time” and get out of precariousness and unemployment. Pierre Larrouturou also wants the establishment of a Sixth Republic, “more parliamentary”.

“I am outraged because there are concrete solutions that are economically credible and that politicians refuse to put in place”declared the candidate, Monday, January 24 on franceinfo channel 27.

2Charlotte Merchandise

Public health consultant, Charlotte Marchandise, associative activist, has been involved in politics since 2014. Deputy delegate for health at the socialist town hall of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) for five years, she did not represent herself for a second mandate in 2020. The 47-year-old candidate had already presented herself in 2017 and had won the election of the primary citizen online laPrimaire.org. During the second round of this election, she obtained 32,685 votes against the three other candidates of the time. But the adventure had stopped there: she had only been able to bring together 135 elected officials, out of the 500 required to stand in the presidential election.

But this time, with 500 citizen sponsorships in hand, Charlotte Marchandise is once again committed to “putting citizens back at the heart of political debate is the first priority”she explains to France 3 Bretagne.

What does the candidate propose? “What we do for you, we must do with you”she announces on her profession of faith and in her book More beautiful politics. Among its main measures: the modification of article 89 of the Constitution to allow the citizens’ initiative referendum, one of the demands of the “yellow vests”, the establishment of a Sixth Republic called “democratic”, experimenting with a universal income and a sharing of working time or even to carry out the measures of the Common Base of the Popular Primary.

“I consider that the only way to make people want to vote again is through democracy to allow everyone to be together in the second round against the far right”declared Charlotte Marchandise, Monday January 24 on franceinfo channel 27.

3Anna Agueb Porterie

Environmental activist and co-founder of the association for the fight against industrial dangers “Our house is burning”, Anna Agueb-Porterie is the youngest of the ballot. She works in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) in a popular education association. Community union organizer, the candidate accompanies residents to fight against injustice.

If Anna Agueb-Porterie is a candidate for the Popular Primary, it is first of all “to make people feel fed up but also to convey a message of hope, to put life back at the heart of the subject of public debate at a time when everyone hears the most about politics”she said, Monday, January 24 on franceinfo channel 27.

What does the candidate propose? Under his slogan “We, presidents”, Anna Agueb-Porterie advocates social ecology and direct democracy. Among its main measures : an overhaul of our democracies, an ecology breaking with capitalism, a social republic and commons. “My candidacy is intended to be a citizen incarnation in the face of political apparatuses”, she assures in her profession of faith. Finally, Anna Agueb-Porterie wishes “put in place citizens’ conventions on all subjects of everyday life, at the local level so that it is adapted to the challenges of the territories.”