“We made a choice that is difficult to make”: Mélenchon returns to the ousting of Taha Bouhafs

This Sunday, the leader of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon returned to the ousting of Taha Bouhafs, initially LFI candidate for the legislative elections in the 14th district of the Rhône, before being dismissed due to accusations of sexual violence.

Read alsoTaha Bouhafs accused of sexual violence: the case which embarrasses the Insoumis in full legislative

Guest of BFMTV, the third man in the presidential election said: “I am neither a judge nor a policeman.

We made a choice, which is difficult to make because it is totally arbitrary, we believe what we are told (…) When a woman complains, we take the report and if it seems to have a minimum of seriousness , we exclude the men targeted by these reports.

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At the beginning of May, two women reported to feminist activist and LFI supporter Caroline de Haas that they had been victims of Taha Bouhafs, who was then approached to represent the party in the legislative elections.

The activist informed an executive of the movement on May 2, then a report was sent to the follow-up committee against gender-based and sexual violence at LFI.

He was then told that the nomination of the Nupes could potentially be withdrawn from him.

Finally, Taha Bouhafs published a press release on Twitter in which he implicitly announced that he was withdrawing from the legislative campaign.

“It deserves to be looked at more closely”

“We did it for one of our candidacies, and in the past two or three times, it was less seen.

It is a bias of which I measure the arbitrary nature, but it is a political choice, which applies to a political organization, ”added this Sunday the leader of the party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

On Twitter, on May 11, the latter had indicated that he "learned" these accusations against Taha Bouhafs.

“The voice of women must be taken seriously.

I am counting on the LFI ad hoc commission to establish the truth.

This does not exempt the racists who harassed him,” he wrote.

The 70-year-old politician notably drew a parallel with the situation involving Damien Abad, recently appointed Minister for Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People, accused of rape by two women: "I think that as things stand , it would be better to take into account that it triggers such an emotion, that it deserves a closer look.

“I cannot tell you more, because I do not want to overwhelm someone if he is innocent, nor spare him if he is guilty”, he concluded.