The outgoing MP François Ruffin, one of the candidates for the post of Prime Minister in the event of a victory for the left in the legislative elections, estimated on Tuesday that the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon was an “obstacle to the victory of the Popular Front”.
“It’s not support here for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it’s rather something that repels voters,” said François Ruffin on TF1 from his constituency, where he is trying to get re-elected despite the very good scores of the National Rally in the last European elections. “It would be good if the leaders of La France insoumise were here,” he added, recalling the candidacy of the leader of LFI in Hénin-Beaumont, against Marine Le Pen, during the 2012 legislative elections.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon “goes on TV every two days to tell himself that he is withdrawing, it’s not so much a withdrawal,” François Ruffin also quipped. The break between the two men – François Ruffin having long been seen as a potential successor to Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the incarnation of the radical left – has been consummated since the “purge” of the “frondeurs” of La France insoumise.
Within the New Popular Front, the socialists, communists and Ecologists want the founder of La France insoumise to be removed, considered too divisive by many, even on the left. The three-time presidential candidate, with his 22% in 2022, is content for the moment to say that he is not “eliminating” himself but is not “obtaining” himself for the post of Prime Minister either, in the event of a victory for the left in the early legislative elections, elections for which the RN is widely favored.