The room fills up little by little.
They are several hundred, including a majority of young people, to have come to the first meeting in the Ile-de-France region of Philippe Poutou, to launch his campaign.
The former Ford worker was invested by the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) in June, to run for the Elysee for a third time.
In 2012 and 2017, each time he obtained more than 1% of the votes, or around 400,000 votes.
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However, the trade unionist intends, this time again, to carry a "
program of rupture
" to the presidential election, taking advantage of the "
amplifying
"
effect
of this suffrage.
For Philippe Poutou, running for the supreme office once again is a way for NPA activists to highlight “
what we do on a daily basis
”.
Municipal councilor in Bordeaux in 2020
New since the 2017 election, the contender for the small far-left formation is now an elected official.
Philippe Poutou has been sitting on the Bordeaux city council since 2020, after remaining in the second round, facing Republicans and environmentalists.
This third candidacy is not yet guaranteed, however.
The candidate currently has 139 sponsorship pledges, out of the 500 required to run for the supreme office.
But Philippe Poutou says he does not want to make up the figure.
"
We are not just here to piss off Darmanin
", he jokes, recalling that the latter has lodged a complaint against him, after the trade unionist declared that "
the police kill
" and that "
in working-class neighborhoods,
around fifteen young people are killed by the police every
year
”.
"Make other ideas exist"
Laughing eye, in jeans and sneakers, with a hooded jacket, it is in a lighter tone that Philippe Poutou addresses the journalists present, before taking the stage with a Transdev striker and several NPA activists.
The city councilor wants his campaign to have a media response, and therefore specifies with a laugh that he "
is careful
" because he wants "
to be invited
" on television sets.
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This candidacy of the NPA aims, according to its champion, to "
relay the resistance that there is today in society
", because it is "
important to make exist other ideas
", underlines the candidate. As the name of his party makes clear, he recalls wanting to “
sweep
” the capitalist system. The former worker also denounces the place of Eric Zemmour in the debate, which according to him accompanies the advent of an "
increasingly brutal and authoritarian society
". It is not on this theme that the candidate wishes to conduct his campaign. For the former worker, "
there are billionaires and people who do not have enough to live decently
", and that is why he is a candidate.
Jean-Michel Blanquer booed by the crowd
Even before the meeting begins, several young people chant slogans by clapping their hands.
“
It's not up to the employers to make their own law!
","
True democracy, it is here!
", And"
the bosses lay off, let's lay off the bosses!
".
When the campaign spokesperson, Armelle Pertus, mentions the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, he is immediately booed by the crowd.
"
Blanking is the incarnate ridiculous
", explains this teacher in Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), then recalling that "
social mobilizations have not disappeared
".
The tone is set.
