Sunday, Yannick Jadot gathered his troops at La Bellevilloise, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, on the evening of the first round. The disappointment is great for the supporters of EE-LV: their candidate falls below the 5% mark, his campaign will therefore not be reimbursed.
Disappointed, angry, worried. The adjectives are not lacking at the HQ of the ecologists to describe their state of mind this Sunday evening. At the Bellevilloise cultural center, in the very trendy 20th arrondissement of Paris, Yannick Jadot met his supporters for a drink. Arrived around 8:30 p.m., shortly after the announcement of his disappointing score – 4.7% – the ecologist said it straight away: we must vote Emmanuel Macron to block Marine Le Pen, credited with 23% votes. “Our vote is not worth guarantee”, hammers the green leader. An opinion shared by many of its activists, who do not forget to applaud – for a long time – their hero. “I would like to have Macron elected, but with the smallest margin possible, explains Victor, 25. To hurt him and make him understand that he is badly elected. A dangerous but necessary game according to him. Another bitterness, this damn “useful vote”, which benefited Jean-Luc Mélenchon and siphoned off the other candidates on the left. Victor did not have “the trembling hand” by depositing his Jadot ballot in the ballot box, he: “Some activists have gone to the other side, that of La France insoumise, having succumbed to the useful vote. Not me.”
“The far right at the gates of power is frightening”
Many have this unpleasant feeling of being invited to a show they have already seen during the first Macron-Le Pen duel five years ago. “I’m really afraid that the National Rally will win this time,” laments Victor. Same anxiety for Jonas and his friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, both 19 years old and early activists. If Marine Le Pen “scared”, Emmanuel Macron “is hated in the country”, analyze the two friends. “The extreme right at the gates of power is frightening. The current dynamic makes me fear his victory. Annoyed, they deplore the fact that the “useful vote” did not succeed in tilting the results. “Many undecided voted Mélenchon. And it didn’t pay off. It’s awful,” laments Jonah. The following ? They see her in the street and alongside associations, to demonstrate and remind people of the climate emergency.
If the Bellevilloise is filled with young and very young activists, white ecocup in hand, other older people were present at the election night. Nicolas, 55, says to himself “disappointed” results. “I find it a little hard that the climate is not embodied in a vote when it is nevertheless in the major concerns of the population.” For him, neither Le Pen nor Macron will settle the question of the environment, “it will accentuate the urgency”, he fears.
The Jadothon is launched
On the side of the close guard of Yannick Jadot, we are worried about the reimbursement of the campaign. The candidate launched a call for donations, a “Jadothon”. “We give ourselves five weeks to collect two million euros”, says Julien Bayou, national secretary of EE-LV. Indeed, the score below 5% of the green candidate does not allow the party to be reimbursed for the costs advanced to conduct the campaign. Charge to the militants and sympathizers to pay off the debts of the party and to save it from bankruptcy.
Yes “nobody can be happy to renew Macron”, declares David Belliard, ecologist deputy to the town hall of Paris, his party “has never been ambiguous about the fight against the extreme right”. He laments that the real topics have been confiscated from media debate and now “it’s not time to party”. Same feeling for Nihal, 22 years old. “I’m angry, I hurt my France, she asserts in a serious tone. Where are the environment and the climate?” For the young activist, the work to come can be summed up in a few words: rebuilding the left and ecology. And quick.