The poster, unveiled the day after Emmanuel Macron’s re-election, did not go unnoticed. The face of Jean-Luc Mélenchon full frame and, in capital letters, the words “Mélenchon Prime Minister”: this is the visual chosen by the leader of La France insoumise to launch the battle for the legislative elections. Two million leaflets and 200,000 posters have already been printed, and a reprint has been launched, L’Union Populaire reported on Wednesday (April 27th).
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The poster chosen confirms that the candidate who narrowly missed qualifying for the second round of the presidential election dreams of imposing cohabitation on the re-elected president.
Better placed than five years ago, with 21.95% of the vote and 7.7 million voters gathered on his name, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is convinced that he can win the legislative elections of June 12 and 19, and thus become the next prime minister by Emmanuel Macron.
But the choice clashes and provokes many criticisms since the poster was unveiled, some opponents or observers of political life reproaching him for not respecting the spirit of the Fifth Republic: according to the Constitution, it is indeed the President of the Republic who appoints the Prime Minister, and not the people who elect him, as Jean-Luc Mélenchon has pretended to suggest for several days.
With this poster, the deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône seems to play a solitary score, without highlighting the other legislative candidates who will be invested on May 7. The personalization operated by Jean-Luc Mélenchon is all the more surprising for his detractors that he wishes to set up a Sixth Republic advocating in particular the “depresidentialization” of the office of head of state.
At least things are clear with this poster: @JLMelenchon to a project for himself. Not for the country. pic.twitter.com/h0gg8tNi9B
– Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade (@PA_Anglade) April 26, 2022
While La France Insoumise is currently negotiating with other left-wing forces to try to build a historic coalition, the choice of Jean-Luc Mélenchon for these legislative elections makes its potential future partners wince. Julien Bayou, the boss of Europe Ecologie – Les Verts, who evokes “a cultural difference” with La France Insoumise, does not hide his astonishment. “They see this election as only national, but we take more into account local issues”reacted the elected ecologist at our colleagues from the Huffpost.
However, this customization is not illegal. According to lawyer Jean-Pierre Mignard, the candidate has every right to use this type of election poster. “The President will choose his (or her) Prime Minister from the majority parliamentary group. This poster should be read like that. The Constitution has nothing to do with it. to say again, philosophy is good but the law is also very useful”he explains on his Twitter account.
And after all, having your face on campaign posters for legislative elections is commonplace in other countries like Germany or Spain, without it bothering anyone, as journalist Vincent Glad points out.
With this poster, Mélenchon is accused of presidentializing legislative elections which would not be made for that. Nothing very extraordinary about our neighbors with parliamentary regimes. pic.twitter.com/tb1ZLlxhX2
— Vincent Glad (@vincentglad) April 26, 2022
These attacks, Jean-Luc Mélenchon rejects them as a whole. “You have to give a clear signal and say things that everyone understands, like ‘I ask you to elect me Prime Minister’“, he confided to the program “Daily”, before congratulating himself that “the instructions spread like wildfire”.
“This time, the mouse hole we have is more comfortable than in 2017.”
Jean-Luc Melenchonto “Daily”
This poster, which uses exactly the same photo and the same codes as those used by the candidate for his presidential campaign, also makes people talk for political reasons. The deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône, who could this time run in a Parisian constituency, actually has very little chance of becoming the next head of government.
Even if 56% of those questioned in a recent Ipsos poll do not want Emmanuel Macron’s party LREM to win the legislative elections in June, the scenario giving Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s movement L’Union populaire the winner seems highly unlikely. In the history of the Fifth Republic, never has a legislative ballot organized in the wake of a presidential election resulted in cohabitation.
The positioning of Jean-Luc Mélenchon is also strongly criticized by the National Rally and Marine Le Pen, who also sees herself as the main opponent of Emmanuel Macron. “Even if it’s impossible for him to win the legislative elections, we understand that Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to go a long way alongside Emmanuel Macron since he helped get him elected by calling to vote for him. in the second round”quips Sébastien Chenu, RN deputy for the North.
“Jean-Luc Mélenchon takes people for fools, he knows very well that he cannot become Prime Minister.”
Sébastien Chenu, deputy and spokesperson for the National Rallyat franceinfo
By positioning himself as a potential future Prime Minister, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is trying to capitalize on the momentum of his presidential campaign, which he is taking advantage of to shine the spotlight on the legislative elections, which generally attract less voters than the presidential election. And the 2022 edition is likely to be no exception to the rule, after a presidential election already marked by low participation.
However, for the candidates of the Popular Union to exceed the bar of 12.5% of registered voters allowing them to qualify for the second round of the legislative elections, the “Rebellious” will have to mobilize at all costs and count on the least possible abstention .
“We can see in the poster of Mélenchon a horrible hijacking of institutions but, if you are normal and not an activist, you can also see there a usual use of the photo of a candidate for the legislative elections and a tremendous boost for these shunned elections”, pleads on Twitter the editorialist Françoise Degois.
If he plays the card of the legislative elections thoroughly, it is also because he is aware that the ballot will be decisive for his political future and that of his movement. A bad result in the legislative elections could disrupt the announced succession of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had hinted during the campaign that he would not run for president in five years.