LFI deputy Adrien Quatennens announced on Sunday that he would not present his candidacy in the North, contested by his party’s partners within the New Popular Front due to his conviction for domestic violence. “I no longer intend for my candidacy to be used against France Insoumise and the New Popular Front to harm them at a time when all energy must be mobilized to beat the extreme right,” he declared. in a speech to the press.
“I know that this decision will disappoint a lot of people, but it seems to me that it will bring relief to even more people,” he added. “I have the deep conviction that my situation is only a pretext used to play politics. I have the right to think that. And at this moment, I feel that I have the right to say it “, he also said.
Elected since 2017 in the first constituency of the North, Adrien Quatennens was re-elected by LFI despite his four-month suspended prison sentence for domestic violence. This decision had caused indignation among the parties making up the New Popular Front with LFI, particularly among the socialists and ecologists, his case having already been debated for several days.
Amy Bah candidate in the Northern constituency
Amy Bah, of the feminist collective Noustoutes, announced her candidacy in the constituency on Saturday, in the name of the “values” of the New Popular Front, but without an official nomination. Amy Bah, who said she had unsuccessfully asked to be invested by the movement in place of Adrien Quatennens, explained that she was running “in conscience and responsibility, after having received a lot of support”, in a constituency “on the left for 30 years” and which “therefore carries a low risk from the extreme right”.
Welcoming Adrien Quatennens’ decision, “taken in agreement with the party leadership”, LFI announced in a press release on Sunday, “investing Aurélien Le Coq, national co-host of Jeunes insoumis, and Lahouaria Addouche, social worker” on behalf of the New Popular Front and demand “the withdrawal of any dissident candidacy”.