Renaud Dély is a journalist and author of
Anatomy of Treason.
The left against progress
(Éditions de l'Observatoire, 2022).
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FIGAROVOX. – Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposed to form a group in Parliament, a proposal declined by the PS, EELV and the PCF. Was it just a facade alliance? Will it last in the hemicycle?
Renaud DELY. –
By making this proposal, Jean-Luc Mélenchon continues to do what he knows how to do very well: politics.
I am quite surprised by the confusing naivety of its socialist, ecologist and communist partners.
They look flabbergasted and protest… But as soon as they agreed to line up behind the Nupes agreement, that is to say behind 650 joint proposals (even if there were disagreements) , behind unique candidacies in each constituency and above all, behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon's watchword, "Elect me at Matignon", this absorption proposal was logical and expected.
With this attempt, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is pursuing the takeover of the whole of the left, which he had already initiated at the beginning of May, when he gathered the whole of the left around his name, his program, and even behind 350 of its candidates.
There is nothing surprising in his making this proposal.
It was all the more predictable as he lost the elections, as the result is disappointing for him, and as he now wonders about his role in the years to come.
Indeed, the one who will really embody the leadership of the opposition in the National Assembly is Marine Le Pen, at the head of the RN group of 89 deputies.
Moreover, it is logical that ecologists, socialists and communists refuse.
Indeed, there are fundamental disagreements which remain between them: on subjects as important as the situation in Ukraine, NATO, the future of the European Union but also on subjects relating to civil liberties.
It does not matter for Jean-Luc Mélenchon that his auxiliaries are indignant: the coup has already succeeded: he has publicly called the electorate on the left to witness who will find it difficult to understand this refusal to form a group in the Assembly when until then all his partners had agreed on everything with the rebellious until proclaiming "Mélenchon prime minister!".
The main cement of this leftist alliance was, and remains, anti-Macronism.
Renaud Dely
The deep disagreements between all these left formations had therefore only been put on hold for a few weeks of the campaign.
They therefore remain and fortunately, moreover, that this alliance did not win the elections, it would have been quite incapable of leading the country given the extent of its divisions.
We note that this alliance was indeed only an electoral cartel, a conjunction of electoral interests in the very short term and in which the fundamental differences remain.
The main cement of this alliance was, and remains, anti-Macronism.
What is the new balance of power between the different left parties?
This balance is very clearly based on the hegemony of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
He built this hegemony with his score in the first round of the presidential election and he reinforced it with this Nupes alliance which he managed to get swallowed up, if I may say so, and even digested by all his partners. , from Julien Bayou to Olivier Faure.
They all lined up without blinking behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the program of the Insoumis and the slogan "Elect me at Matignon".
Only Fabien Roussel showed a little resistance in trying to maintain a semblance of autonomy.
Read also"The week of Louise, deputy Nupes"
Consequently, the relationship of internal forces to the left is extremely clear: what remains of the left, it is a left mélenchoniste, even mélenchonisée.
The others are just add-ons.
The risk they are running, and which they have agreed to take since they have entered into this alliance which went against many of their convictions, in particular those of the ecologists and the socialists on European issues, is that of becoming auxiliaries, even accomplices of the Melenchonist and radical left.
The social democratic left has broken with the culture of government to prefer to take refuge in imprecation, indignation, radicalism.
Renaud Dely
Does this union endorse an erasure of the social-democratic left, initiated during the last presidential elections (2017 and 2022)?
This is the drama that this union entails: the social-democratic left, the reformist left, the one that agrees to tackle reality, to change it, to reform it and to correct it, has rallied, settled down and even dissolved in the radical left.
Many leaders of the Socialist Party preferred to cut back on a large part of their convictions to save a few mandates of deputies.
And the result finally gives birth to great stability for the PS: it is the only partner who has not progressed in number of deputies.
All that for this…
But this denial has serious consequences.
Indeed, this left has broken with the culture of government to prefer to take refuge in imprecation, indignation, radicalism.
The reformists locked themselves in a position that kept them permanently away from power and their influence was increasingly marginalized.
The problem is that this reformist left got involved in this spiral at the risk of being swallowed up and destroyed by the melenchonist radical left.
Even if the Socialists regain some distance in the National Assembly by keeping their own group, in the minds of left-wing voters, they have dissolved into Melenchonism.
This radical left is, in my opinion, a lasting minority in the country.
It swallowed up and wiped out what was left of the reformist left and will not be able to regain power for a very long time.
131 seats, it is the lowest score of the left in number of deputies in the legislative elections, with the exception of 1993 and 2017.
Renaud Dely
The Nupes finally obtained 131 seats Should we consider this as a victory or a defeat for the left?
It's a pretty neat failure.
131 seats is the lowest score for the left in terms of the number of deputies in the legislative elections, with the exception of 1993 and 2017. Of course, there is progress compared to 2017: the number of deputies has doubled.
But Jean-Luc Mélenchon hoped for much better and his defeat is clear.
The number of left-wing deputies is lower than that which it held in the National Assembly during its legislative defeats in 2002, after the re-election of Jacques Chirac at the Élysée, and in 2007, after the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Remember that in 2002, the left was already absent from the second round of the presidential election.
It was only during the debacles of 1993 and 2017 that the left had fewer deputies than this year.
It is a clear defeat in voice first: there was no electoral dynamic.
The Nupes agreement did not bring votes to the left, which remains at the same level as in 2017. In fact, it is certainly a strategic success, because the union strategy has enabled the left to limit the damage in number of elected officials, but it is not an electoral and political failure.
More serious, it is even an ideological defeat because this left has taken a radical, protesting and protesting line that will keep it away from power.
It will be represented in the National Assembly by a large part of deputies themselves who are essentially protesters and who have no culture of government and do not want to acquire it.
They claim to be spokespersons for the "angry people" and only sit to protest and block.
It is not on these bases that the left can try to rebuild itself to try to regain power tomorrow and start trying again to transform, change and improve reality.