According to the projections of the pollsters, the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), the coalition of left-wing parties that he leads, would become the second formation in the National Assembly behind the presidential majority, with between 165 and 195 seats. And she is neck and neck with LREM and its allies on the national total of votes, around 28%, in the first round.
The meeting will take place with a more modest gauge than the presidential one, at the Olympe de Gouges hall in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Will speak, in addition to the Insoumis leader, several Nupes candidates in Paris, including the head of EELV Julien Bayou and the communication director of the presidential campaign of LFI Sophia Chikirou.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon warmed up Monday evening by launching the “parliament” of Nupes. He explained why he started his campaign by asking the French people to “elect him Prime Minister”.
After a second round where left-wing voters blocked Marine Le Pen, “the President of the Republic has no mandate, so we are forced to move to a parliamentary regime, we will do it from within the institutions,” he said.
“We are ready to govern, we know what to do,” warned the tribune. In the presence of officials from EELV, the PS, the PCF and Generations, he reiterated his satisfaction at having finally been able to bring the lefts together behind him: “The change of era is in the process of being tied, we are its authors, another era is beginning for the left, the previous page has been turned, we are responsible for the one that is coming, we here, no one else”.
– “Who is Nupes?” –
Still, he exposes himself personally. “His strategy is intelligent but Jean-Luc Mélenchon Prime Minister must not erase those who are not fans from the start”, observes Ian Brossat, former campaign manager for communist candidate Fabien Roussel.
“The challenge is that of identifying the candidates”, explains to AFP Paul Vannier, negotiator of the agreement for LFI and candidate of the Nupes in the 5th district of Val-d’Oise. The portrait of the Insoumis leader and the Nupes logo on the posters? “There is still time for those who have not done so to correct this”.
Julien Bayou confides for his part to be “pleasantly surprised” by the functioning of the Nupes: “It’s fluid in the coordination, it takes on the ground, we have set some major campaign axes and everyone has their own way of communicating”.
“The ecologists are very good students, they do a lot, even when there is no press”, smiles a Nupes executive in private, who notes that “the Greens had nevertheless theorized that they were the future from the left, so the change of foot is brutal”.
Government spokeswoman Olivia Grégoire mocked Nupes’ hopes of victory in Le Parisien on Tuesday: “The legislative elections are 577 two-round ballots, out of 577 constituencies. Anticipate the results, based on national polls of different parties, it’s like announcing the weather for the day in France, by taking the average of the temperatures from Lille to Marseille”.
And the macronist to mock in Nupes “a constituency agreement, not an agreement of conviction”: “Who is Nupes? Is Nupes against the burkini like the communist Fabien Roussel or for his authorization with Julien Bayou? On nuclear power, Is Nupes with the communists or with the ecologists who are against it?
