At first sight, the united left is in a better position than divided, of course, in any case to qualify for the second round in many constituencies for the legislative elections on 12th and 19th June next.
>> Legislative: how the strategy of unity on the left changes the situation, constituency by constituency
As for winning an absolute majority and imposing cohabitation, there, the balance of power leaves him with little hope. The objective of the agreement is above all to elect as many opposition deputies as possible, 100, perhaps 150, for “resist” to Emmanuel Macron. “Resistance“is the watchword of the Insoumis. And then Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to ensure his hegemony on the left in the long term. To this end, he personalizes the deadline for the legislative elections as much as possible with the watchword “Melenchon to Matignon!“At the risk, ultimately, of doing a favor to Emmanuel Macron…
Because the very idea of installing such an unstable tandem at the top of the executive can worry part of the electorate. For five years, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has sometimes got carried away. He often made harsh remarks about “the type of the Elysée“, as he has sometimes called the Head of State. The leader of the Insoumis has been trying to erase his image for a few weeks, but he remains extremely divisive. He excites his supporters, but also arouses a clear rejection in the rest of opinion.
Emmanuel Macron wants to play on this foil effect to finish siphoning off moderate left and right. He hopes to draw reinforcements from the side of the Social Democratic voters, worried by the excesses of the Insoumis and attached to the European Union, as within the liberal right frightened by the program of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union. La Nupes.
So, a question: is this program defended by Jean-Luc Mélenchon a real disruptive program? Yes: breaking with the five-year term of François Hollande, but also with the Jospin years. This government of the plural left is the one that had privatized the most in the last thirty years. This time, the left wants to renationalise banks, airports, highways, EDF and Engie. Not to mention retirement at age 60 for all. It is Back to the future… or at least back to 1981!
The Walkers want to draw the argument to attack Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the feasibility and financing of his project. Exactly as they did to dismantle Marine Le Pen’s program during the in-between presidential rounds. Basically, it is the risk that the left has taken by letting itself be sucked into its radical margins by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. That of leaving an even wider space in the center for Emmanuel Macron…