No is no. The Insoumis firmly asked, Tuesday evening, January 18, the organizers of the Popular primary to no longer involve their candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. They denounce an approach « insincère » who, according to them, “instrumentalizes aspirations to unity” from the left.
“Jean-Luc Mélenchon has never agreed to appear in this ballot: we therefore ask that his name be removed from all physical and digital media” of this primary, wrote in a Manuel Bompard press release, campaign director for Jean-Luc Mélenchon. At a meeting in Nantes on Sunday, the Insoumis presidential candidate had once again rejected any union candidacy: “How do I make the union without creating confusion? It’s not unity that we need, it’s clarity and popular unity,” he insisted.
In his press release, Manuel Bompard denounces “deliberately brutal character” of the popular primary “without respect for the people involved in this presidential election. Thus, the candidates will be put to the vote without their agreement. Others will not be there, without their opinion either. »
For the rebellious, “this vote is therefore akin to a kind of poll without any of the basic rules to guarantee its sincerity being respected”.
288,000 registered in the popular primary
” It’s not acceptable. None of us had access to the voters file and the control commission set up was dissolved by the organizers”, says Manuel Bompard. For him, “It is time for the electoral campaign to be rid of these unfair practices which instrumentalize aspirations to rally and have functioned for weeks as a permanent harassment against the legitimacy of left-wing candidates”.
In this very virulent text, Manuel Bompard also wonders “on the real political intentions of this organization” with which the Insoumis want to “clear distance”.
The « Primary Popular » to her, claimed tuesday to have crossed the bar of 288,000 registered voters of« investiture » which will take place from January 27 to 30 to designate the candidate she will support from among seven personalities. This figure is already the highest of the primaries that have taken place, surpassing the environmentalist primary in September (122,000) and the Republican congress in early December (nearly 140,000).
But in addition to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the ecologist Yannick Jadot and the socialist Anne Hidalgo refused to participate. Former Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira – declared a presidential candidate on Saturday – MEP Pierre Larrouturou and candidates from civil society Charlotte Marchandise and Anna Agueb-Porterie have meanwhile said they would comply with the results.