2022 French legislatives

[Oryxslayer]

My main interest at the moment which I'm surprised no one else has discussed is how many dissident candidates (mostly PS) there will be and what their weight in their constituencies is. - I imagine there will be quite a few.

There's already some dissent within PS - some from the expected places like Hollande, some from those who fear a irreversible loss of power - but this should pass the internal party vote tomorrow given that said same body approved talks in the first place. I'll let others more in tune with internal factions discuss PS intrigue.

[warandwar]

Anyone know how/why FI got all of the colonies?

Wondering if theres any rhyme or reason for GE and G.s's seats, also.

Edit: NPA says they are being offered 5 unwinnable seats. Not sure what the right move for them there is. Whatever they choose, i'm sure half of the party will leave over it.

[parochial boy]

Their one in Nantes in Loire-Atlantique 6, which is the South of the city; which is quite sociall mixed, some gentrification, some more working class areas, but is one of the stronger parts of the city for the left even if not instinctively the most Green aligned. The PS obviously get Nantes central because of Johanna Rolland, like they get the best of Rennes thanks to Nathalise Appéré. They've also been given some pretty OK rural ones, like néo-ruraux central in the Drôme or the old Trégor Rouge in Côtes-d'Armor.

Nitpick: the apparent EELV seat in the Côtes-d'Armor is not the Trégor Rouge (that's the fourth constituency), but rather Marc Le Fur's seat, the third constituency (Lamballe, Loudéac, the Mené), which is also probably the most hopeless seat for the left in the department. Realistically, the first and fourth constituencies are winnable for the left, all the others are probably longshots.

Anyway, I imagine the real objective for EELV is to win at the very least enough seats to recreate a parliamentary group (so 15) and the number of winnable seats being thrown around is 30, which the upper limit of optimistic projections.

My main interest at the moment which I'm surprised no one else has discussed is how many dissident candidates (mostly PS) there will be and what their weight in their constituencies is. - I imagine there will be quite a few. For example, in Paris-15, Hidalgo ally and ephemeral PS deputy Lamia El Aaraje was passed over in favour of LFI's Danielle Simonnet, and she could run as a relatively strong dissident (she defeated Simonnet in a very low turnout by-election in 2021 which was later annulled).

Ahh yeah, I misread the map. Thought the green one was the fourth, when it's actually the one directly south of Saint-Brieuc. Should have looked harder. Woops

The one dissident that I have seen getting a lot of attention is Michèle Picard, mayor of Vénissieux, in the 14th. In particular because she is standing against journalist-slash-campaigner Taha Bouhafs, whose candidacy seems to have created a collective meltdown among the right and the cultural elite. Basically down to the extent he is an avatar of all they hate about the young Arab men from the banlieues. He is intensely controversial overall, and the consitituency is an old PCF stronghold. Though I haven't got a clue how well Picard will do in the end, or what sort of backlash against Bouhafs there might be.

[Hash]

Anyone know how/why FI got all of the colonies?

Wondering if theres any rhyme or reason for GE and G.s's seats, also.

Not sure if the overseas are part of the deal or not: in any case, there are two PS incumbents (in Guadeloupe and Réunion) as well as one clearly LFI-affiliated incumbent (Ratenon in La Réunion). But a lot of overseas politics revolve around local parties which have more or less defined affiliations with national parties or at least parliamentary groups (Martinique's MIM, PPM, BPM, Péyi-A etc., Gabriel Serville's Péyi G or the PSG, MDES in Guiana's, La Réunion's old Communists and Huguette Bello's PLR), and of course New Caledonia and French Polynesia are even more sui generis with no real presence of the national left-wing parties, although the nationalists in both countries are close to the national left (the Tavini's deputy, Moetai Brotherson, sits with the GDR group). Given local politics and tensions between the different left-leaning groups in many places, notably Martinique, I'd imagine there will be no alliance (in the form a single leftist candidate) in many places.

GE has two/three incumbents who are all seeking reelection and whose seats are protected by the alliance: party leader and former candidate in the expanded green primary Delphine Batho (ex-PS, former environment minister in 2012-13 turned much more radical since) in the Deux-Sèvres, Hubert Julien-Laferrière (ex-LREM) in Rhône-2 (which as parochialboy pointed out is very good terrain for the left) and famous mathematician Cédric Villani (ex-LREM, not formally a member it seems but close to the party) in Essonne-5. The other seats are all much tougher.

G.s has no incumbents running again (Régis Juanico is retiring in the Loire) and I'm not quite sure who are their most prominent candidates, but Val-de-Marne-11 seems reserved for (ex-PS) senator Sophie Taillé-Polian, one of the two national coordinators of the party (the other, Benjamin Lucas, wanted to run in Nord-2, which has a LFI incumbent, but now doesn't seem to be running). Not all their seats are impossible but besides Val-de-Marne they're quite difficult under current circumstances.

[Oryxslayer]

Anyone know how/why FI got all of the colonies?

Wondering if theres any rhyme or reason for GE and G.s's seats, also.

Not sure if the overseas are part of the deal or not: in any case, there are two PS incumbents (in Guadeloupe and Réunion) as well as one clearly LFI-affiliated incumbent (Ratenon in La Réunion). But a lot of overseas politics revolve around local parties which have more or less defined affiliations with national parties or at least parliamentary groups (Martinique's MIM, PPM, BPM, Péyi-A etc., Gabriel Serville's Péyi G or the PSG, MDES in Guiana's, La Réunion's old Communists and Huguette Bello's PLR), and of course New Caledonia and French Polynesia are even more sui generis with no real presence of the national left-wing parties, although the nationalists in both countries are close to the national left (the Tavini's deputy, Moetai Brotherson, sits with the GDR group). Given local politics and tensions between the different left-leaning groups in many places, notably Martinique, I'd imagine there will be no alliance (in the form a single leftist candidate) in many places.

My thoughts as well on the overseas vote. While there does seem to be some genuine swings towards a viable Left ticket, a lot of Melenchon's and then later Le Pen's support there can be blamed on local issues that stem from local problems that all trace their roots back to a perception that the metropole doesn't care about them or their problems. Sometimes this perception is correct, sometimes it isn't, but Macron was the face of such perceptions and therefore lacked any appeal there.

If I was to bet on any one thing happening in the territories and overseas regions, and obviously putting a bead on any single thing happening is likely a fools errand, it would be a mass vote against any party closely tied to a national alliance, or any established national party that puts up candidates. Grassroots-aimed candidates and parties that clearly care about the local issues of their department are well poised to capture the angst that we saw in the presidential vote, and I don't think we can really get a clear idea right now of who such candidates would align with.

[Zinneke]

Are Nouvelle Donne running with the joint list? Their spokesperson seemed to be one of the big supporters of left wing unity and it'd be a shame if Nouvelle Donne disappeared.

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/1522230924674576387?s=20&t=Rsf9wZRwsEq0TqQ...

REM is dead, long live REM.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

My main interest at the moment which I'm surprised no one else has discussed is how many dissident candidates (mostly PS) there will be and what their weight in their constituencies is. - I imagine there will be quite a few.

There's already some dissent within PS - some from the expected places like Hollande, some from those who fear a irreversible loss of power - but this should pass the internal party vote tomorrow given that said same body approved talks in the first place. I'll let others more in tune with internal factions discuss PS intrigue.

Could the PRG act as a vessel for PS types looking for their own space, I wonder? They already have the guy who defeated Royal in her seat, who presumably has some local sway.

[Hash]

The presidential majority has released the first wave of candidacies, with 187 names - including incumbents, newcomers and cabinet ministers.

Some highlights:

Government spokesperson Gabriel Attal will seek reelection in Hauts-de-Seine-10

The godawful right-wing education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer finally settles on a candidacy in Loiret-4, where LR incumbent Jean-Pierre Door is not seeking reelection. It's far from great territory for macronismo (Le Pen won in the runoff) and he doesn't have the greatest reputation, but he may yet benefit from the division of the right locally, split between two candidates. He'll also be disappointed that Montargis is nothing like Ibiza.

The godawful right-wing snake interior minister Gérald Darmanin will run in his former seat, Nord-10 (which he held between 2012 and 2016), currently held by an Agir (ex-LR) incumbent, whose future is unclear. Darmanin retains a strong local base in Tourcoing, where he was mayor, so he should win.

Labour minister Elisabeth Borne is running in Calvados-6, vacated by LREM (ex-PRG) incumbent Alain Tourret. Should be in a favourable position, although she has no local base here.

The minister for transformation and the civil service Amélie de Montchalin is running for reelection in Essonne-6.

Secretary of state for European affairs Clément Beaune is running in Paris-7.

Secretary of state for retirement/pensions Laurent Pietraszewski is running for reelection in Nord-11.

The junior minister for public accounts Olivier Dussopt (ex-PS) will seek to regain his old seat, Ardèche-2, where he was reelected - for the PS, against LREM - in 2017, but where his former suppléante-turned-deputy, Michèle Victory, has stayed loyal to the left, unlike him.

Junior minister Brigitte Klinkert is running in Haut-Rhin-1, held by LR. Klinkert, however, was the suppléante to former deputy, now mayor of Colmar, Éric Straumann, until 2020, and has a strong base (she is departmental councillor and she did well in the area in the 2021 regional elections), so she should be in a favourable position.

The junior minister for housing Emmanuelle Wargon is running in Val-de-Marne-8, facing LR incumbent Michel Herbillon, who easily defeated LREM five years ago.

As announced, Manuel Valls is running in the fifth expat constituency (Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Monaco), where the LREM incumbent, who took the seat from Samantha Cazebonne last year after her election to the Senate, is refusing to make way for him and will run as a dissident.

Former Sarkozy-era cabinet minister Éric Woerth (ex-LR), who supported Macron in the presidential election, now has LREM's support for his reelection, seeking a fifth term in Oise-4.

UDI incumbent Thierry Benoit in Ille-et-Vilaine-6, first elected in 2007 and reelected against a LREM candidate in 2017, now has LREM's endorsement.

I don't have time to go through the rest of the list, but while LREM's 'civil society' shtick is still quite well represented among non-incumbent candidates, there's more local elected officials than in 2017 - the mayor of Mende in Lozère, the mayor of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, the mayor of Mons-en-Baroeul...

There's a good list and map here: https://www.lejdc.fr/paris-75000/actualites/quels-sont-les-candidatures-deja-validees-par-renaissance-horizon-et-le-modem-pour-les-legislatives_14125795/

[Oryxslayer]

There's a good list and map here: https://www.lejdc.fr/paris-75000/actualites/quels-sont-les-candidatures-deja-validees-par-renaissance-horizon-et-le-modem-pour-les-legislatives_14125795/

Notable to me is the utter lack of immediately announced candidates along the Mediterranean coast. REM+ won a bunch of seats there in 2017 and has incumbents, but they won a lot of these seats through closer runoffs versus to Far Right, and said deputies may no longer like their chances in seats Le Pen won quite convincingly...

Also, the PS right now is voting to approve or reject the alliance, a vote that promises dissidents no matter the outcome. EDIT: and that outcome was unsurprisingly favorable to the Unity list.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's really happening. Wow.



Good on all parties involved for actually demonstrating some maturity (or at the very least, survival instinct) and doing the rational thing that they've failed to do oh so many times before. I'm not exactly happy that Mélenchon is our standard bearer, but that was inevitable given the outcome of the first round. I think I've given my thoughts on Mélenchon, and it is true that I would have voted for Macron over him as president, but when it comes to the legislatives, the situation is obviously different. It's not about putting him in charge of foreign policy (even if NUPES somehow miraculously won a majority, that majority would be reliant on PS and other pro-EU, pro-NATO forces who wouldn't let him get away with his Putin sympathies, not to mention that the President retains a prominent role on foreign policy even in cohabitations). It's about maintaining the French left as a major force in French politics - one capable, ideally, of stopping Macron's neoliberal agenda in its tracks, and if not, to provide a strong voice in opposition to it and in favor of social justice and redistribution. Against all odds, I believe we have a chance of achieving that. Let's f**king do this.

Send NUPES to the Palais Bourbon!

[Ex-Assemblyman Steelers]

What problem people have with Melenchon?

[Zinneke]

What problem people have with Melenchon?

I've listed all the issues I have of him in another thread. Mostly his most disgusting stance given the moment is his pro-Russian Alignment views. This is a guy that said Russia would solve the Syrian civil war and that they were not an aggressor in the current Ukraine conflict.

In terms of his polarising image in France though, it largely surrounds his character and the fact that his minions are absolutely insufferable online.

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1522517721560358913?s=20&t=5rzXZLcZO...

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1522511717875564545?s=20&t=5rzXZLcZO...

Cluster17 tests the new left alignment versus divisions elsewhere on the spectrum. The result though suggests the new alliance is getting the support of those 33% who backed the left, and not disturbing the other two pillars third's of the vote.

[DL]

I wonder who RN voters support in the second round if they face a runoff between the left and a Macronist

[Oryxslayer]

I wonder who RN voters support in the second round if they face a runoff between the left and a Macronist

In the first round, it was Macron if the alternative was melenchon. Sounds weird given what happened in the end,  but this was what round 1 polls suggested. Macron in these was defeating melenchon by a bit more than he was defeating Le Pen. There was no breakdown, but given how easily the left has aligned with Melenchon, we can reasonably expect that his and LRs 33% was complimented by some of the far right after abstentions, so that the projected outcome was a 15 or 20 point margin over the lefts 33%.

That all said, the fact that the presidential race is over changes many things of course.  And abstention is always easier than voting. So we can't really say for certain, but nobody should be surprised if Macrons pivot right allows him to win these voters who self-identify as right, even though the two factions are supposedly 'rivalrous.'

[S019]

What problem people have with Melenchon?

I've listed all the issues I have of him in another thread. Mostly his most disgusting stance given the moment is his pro-Russian Alignment views. This is a guy that said Russia would solve the Syrian civil war and that they were not an aggressor in the current Ukraine conflict.

In terms of his polarising image in France though, it largely surrounds his character and the fact that his minions are absolutely insufferable online.

In addition to all of this, he has also made statements which raise suspicions of anti-Semitism.

[Antonio the Sixth]

So, I was taking a look at the constituencies won by NUPES parties back in 2017 and seeing how they were apportioned among the parties this time. Corsica and DTOMs don't seem to be included in the agreement (even if they were, politics in these areas is such a clusterf**k that such an agreement wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on), so we're looking at 546 constituencies. Of those, 54 were won by parties now affiliated with NUPES - just under 10%.

PS won 27 seats. They're keeping 21 of those, which is frankly kind of a slap in the face for the party and a sign that FI drove a hard bargain. In general, there are plausible rationales for the 6 seats that got dropped, but in at least some cases it is guaranteed to cause tensions. Here's a short rundown.
- Paris-15: This is the one that got the most attention. It was won by the PS' George Pau-Langevin in 2017, but then resigned in 2020 to take up an administrative job. The subsequent by-election was again won by the PS' Lamia El Aaraje, but then her election got thrown out by the Constitutional Council because of improprieties involving other candidate (didn't I tell you that the CC's policy when it comes to throwing out elections is braindead and ripe for abuse??). El Aaraje is an incumbent in all but name, but she's been denied her seat and Faure apparently decided she was worth sacrificing. She's likely to run as a dissident and frankly, in this case, I think she has every right to.
- Val-d'Oise-8: DSK's old seat, which has being held since then by his protégé François Pupponi. Pupponi was elected under the PS banner in 2017, but left the party in 2018 and eventually joined the FBM galaxy. So in this case there wasn't much for the PS to defend.
- Ardèche-2: Kind of a similar story here. The elected PS deputy, Olivier Dussopt, defected to the Macronie and actually got a minor cabinet post for his troubles. The difference being that since he has to resign, his substitute Michèle Victory took the seat instead, and from all I can glean she's been a loyal PS backbencher since. Maybe she's not planning to run again, but if she was, it's again a fairly remarkable shunning on FI's part.
- Loire-1: Won for the PS by Régis Juanico in 2017, who then defected to Génération.s. It doesn't seem he's running again, though, so this seat is just going to EELV. Given that G.s has been allied with EELV since the presidential election, that seems like a fair trade.
- Pyrénées-Atlantiques-3: Won by David Habib in 2017. Habib is running again, but he opposes the NUPES and it sounds like he's running again under the Macronist banner, so it makes sense that the PS gets no shot there. Interestingly though, they're instead getting the 4th constituency just vacated by Jean Lassalle. That could be a decent pickup opportunity.
- Deux-Sèvres-2: This one is easy. It's Delphine Batho's seat - she held it for the PS in 2017, but then left the party to become the leader of... Génération Ecologie, of all things? Well, that seat was given to GE under the agreement with EELV and its partners, so we can assume she'll be running again.
So overall, PS saved almost all of its real incumbents, with only two serious slights and one self-imposed rejection. Still, 21 seats is not a lot, so they'd have to hope that some of the constituencies they managed to bargain for are winnable if they want to hope to do better than in 2017.

Without surprise, FI kept all its 17 wins from 2017. It looks like they're ceding Seine-Saint-Denis-2 to the PCF, which confused me, but that's actually just a branding thing. The incumbent there, Stéphane Peu, is a PCF member who ran and was elected under the FI banner in 2017. That's rather unusual since 2017 was the peak of the fight between PCF and Mélenchon, but Peu apparently had enough of a good relationship with FI to get this favor. And it sounds that now he'll be able to run as a communist under the NUPES banner.

As for PCF itself, it was also able to keep the 10 seats it won on its own in 2017.

Finally, EELV was completely wiped out in 2017. One of its members, Eric Alauzet, defected to Macron and was able to keep his seat that way, while the others lost their seats. This time around, EELV seems pretty confident it will be able to form a group based on the seats they got from the NUPES agreement. Interestingly, one of those seats is actually Alauzet's (Doubs-2), so this might well be a revenge for the party he betrayed.

There are also 5 constituencies where candidates affiliated with the left but not with NUPES won in 2017. It will be interesting where left-wing voters in these constituencies end up going. First, we have the three PRG survivors: Jeanine Dubié (Hautes-Pyrénées-2) and Sylvia Pinel (Tarn-et-Garonne-2) will both face FI challengers, while Olivier Falorni (Charente-Maritime-1) will face an opponent from EELV. There's the MDC's Christian Hutin (Nord-13), who will also face FI. And finally there's Manuel Valls' old constituency of Essonne-1. After he quit to launch his embarrassing run for the Barcelona mayorship, the seat was inherited by Francis Chouat, another PS defector to the Macron nebula. He, too, will face a FI challenger.

[Babeuf]

His English Wikipedia says that Christian Hutin announced he's not running again, is that incorrect / has it been rescinded?

[MaxQue]

So, I was taking a look at the constituencies won by NUPES parties back in 2017 and seeing how they were apportioned among the parties this time. Corsica and DTOMs don't seem to be included in the agreement (even if they were, politics in these areas is such a clusterf**k that such an agreement wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on), so we're looking at 546 constituencies. Of those, 54 were won by parties now affiliated with NUPES - just under 10%.

PS won 27 seats. They're keeping 21 of those, which is frankly kind of a slap in the face for the party and a sign that FI drove a hard bargain. In general, there are plausible rationales for the 6 seats that got dropped, but in at least some cases it is guaranteed to cause tensions. Here's a short rundown.
- Paris-15: This is the one that got the most attention. It was won by the PS' George Pau-Langevin in 2017, but then resigned in 2020 to take up an administrative job. The subsequent by-election was again won by the PS' Lamia El Aaraje, but then her election got thrown out by the Constitutional Council because of improprieties involving other candidate (didn't I tell you that the CC's policy when it comes to throwing out elections is braindead and ripe for abuse??). El Aaraje is an incumbent in all but name, but she's been denied her seat and Faure apparently decided she was worth sacrificing. She's likely to run as a dissident and frankly, in this case, I think she has every right to.
- Val-d'Oise-8: DSK's old seat, which has being held since then by his protégé François Pupponi. Pupponi was elected under the PS banner in 2017, but left the party in 2018 and eventually joined the FBM galaxy. So in this case there wasn't much for the PS to defend.
- Ardèche-2: Kind of a similar story here. The elected PS deputy, Olivier Dussopt, defected to the Macronie and actually got a minor cabinet post for his troubles. The difference being that since he has to resign, his substitute Michèle Victory took the seat instead, and from all I can glean she's been a loyal PS backbencher since. Maybe she's not planning to run again, but if she was, it's again a fairly remarkable shunning on FI's part.
- Loire-1: Won for the PS by Régis Juanico in 2017, who then defected to Génération.s. It doesn't seem he's running again, though, so this seat is just going to EELV. Given that G.s has been allied with EELV since the presidential election, that seems like a fair trade.
- Pyrénées-Atlantiques-3: Won by David Habib in 2017. Habib is running again, but he opposes the NUPES and it sounds like he's running again under the Macronist banner, so it makes sense that the PS gets no shot there. Interestingly though, they're instead getting the 4th constituency just vacated by Jean Lassalle. That could be a decent pickup opportunity.
- Deux-Sèvres-2: This one is easy. It's Delphine Batho's seat - she held it for the PS in 2017, but then left the party to become the leader of... Génération Ecologie, of all things? Well, that seat was given to GE under the agreement with EELV and its partners, so we can assume she'll be running again.
So overall, PS saved almost all of its real incumbents, with only two serious slights and one self-imposed rejection. Still, 21 seats is not a lot, so they'd have to hope that some of the constituencies they managed to bargain for are winnable if they want to hope to do better than in 2017.

Without surprise, FI kept all its 17 wins from 2017. It looks like they're ceding Seine-Saint-Denis-2 to the PCF, which confused me, but that's actually just a branding thing. The incumbent there, Stéphane Peu, is a PCF member who ran and was elected under the FI banner in 2017. That's rather unusual since 2017 was the peak of the fight between PCF and Mélenchon, but Peu apparently had enough of a good relationship with FI to get this favor. And it sounds that now he'll be able to run as a communist under the NUPES banner.

As for PCF itself, it was also able to keep the 10 seats it won on its own in 2017.

Finally, EELV was completely wiped out in 2017. One of its members, Eric Alauzet, defected to Macron and was able to keep his seat that way, while the others lost their seats. This time around, EELV seems pretty confident it will be able to form a group based on the seats they got from the NUPES agreement. Interestingly, one of those seats is actually Alauzet's (Doubs-2), so this might well be a revenge for the party he betrayed.

There are also 5 constituencies where candidates affiliated with the left but not with NUPES won in 2017. It will be interesting where left-wing voters in these constituencies end up going. First, we have the three PRG survivors: Jeanine Dubié (Hautes-Pyrénées-2) and Sylvia Pinel (Tarn-et-Garonne-2) will both face FI challengers, while Olivier Falorni (Charente-Maritime-1) will face an opponent from EELV. There's the MDC's Christian Hutin (Nord-13), who will also face FI. And finally there's Manuel Valls' old constituency of Essonne-1. After he quit to launch his embarrassing run for the Barcelona mayorship, the seat was inherited by Francis Chouat, another PS defector to the Macron nebula. He, too, will face a FI challenger.

It seems Dussopt is running, so, Victory is actually banned from running by law (you cannot run against the person you replaced).

[Zinneke]

Valls will face a dissident LREM challenge from the Spain-Portugal incumbent, who was popular with the LREM faction according to sources.

[Antonio the Sixth]

His English Wikipedia says that Christian Hutin announced he's not running again, is that incorrect / has it been rescinded?

Oh, sorry, I must have missed it. I actually relied mostly on Wikipedia for this rundown, so by all means you should trust Wikipedia over me.

It seems Dussopt is running, so, Victory is actually banned from running by law (you cannot run against the person you replaced).

Speaking of which, didn't know that either. Wow, that's a f**ked up law. Sorry to see her screwed over like that by a traitorous running mate.

I guess of the 6 lost PS seats, they fall neatly into 3 categories then: 2 who got screwed over by dumb laws (El Aaraje, Victory), 2 who turned traitor (Pupponi, Habib), and 2 who went over to other NUPES parties (Juanico, Batho). I think the PS should still have gotten to run their candidates in the first 2 categories, but oh well.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The official NUPES convention just concluded, with a lengthy but impassioned speech by Mélenchon. Whatever else I have to say about the guy, he is a truly superb orator. Starting with a Paul Eluard quote and ending with a Victor Hugo one - like any self-respecting French leftist, he has a real sense of the history and culture he belongs to. And if he manages to build NUPES into the leading opposition in the coming legislature and then passes the torch to a new generation to lead us back to power, he will have earned his spot in that history. Not all great figures of the French left were good people (Mitterrand sure wasn't), and not all of them were in government (Jaurès never was). I don't need to like Mélenchon, but I can learn to respect him if he plays his part at this point in history.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Clear what the preference of the youth is.

[Estrella]

I'm seeing Reconquête! at 6-7% in the polls. Is actually getting that much a realistic possibility for them? They have next to no infrastructure, very few well-known candidates and their presidential candidate flopped. I'm not sure there are that many people who are willing to vote for Random Zemmourist #47B.