Late in his quest for sponsorships, the NPA spokesman was able to take advantage of a last-minute mobilization of certain elected officials.
Philippe Poutou has finally succeeded in his “remontada”. In difficulty in his quest for sponsorships – he had only 342 last Tuesday – the NPA candidate crossed the fateful bar of 500 signatures of elected officials. The President of the Constitutional Council Laurent Fabius announced it on Monday, revealing the list of 12 candidates definitively qualified for the ballot. Philippe Poutou therefore confirms his third candidacy for the presidential election, after 2012 and 2017.
During these two previous elections, the quest for sponsorships had already looked like a long way of the cross for the NPA and had also been settled at the very end of the process. Qualified narrowly, Philippe Poutou had collected very low scores in the first round (1.15% in 2012, 1.09% in 2017), appearing more like a testimonial candidacy. During a televised debate between candidates, he notably replied to Marine Le Pen: “Us, when we’re summoned by the police, we don’t have worker immunity“.
Sponsorship of Mélenchon
For his third candidacy, the trade unionist – who has meanwhile become a municipal councilor in Bordeaux – was able to take advantage of the advance of his opponents. While the main candidates already have their 500 sponsorships in their pockets, a pool of elected signatures was still available. Jean-Luc Mélenchon notably wanted to set an example by signing for his competitor. “As I had committed to it if I exceeded 500 sponsorships, I sponsor another candidate who does not have them yet. My sponsorship for the presidential election therefore left in the name of Philippe Poutou”, had explained the LFI candidate on Tuesday in a tweet.
In the end, the trade unionist was not the victim of the split in his party in 2021, which led to the candidacy of railway worker Anasse Kazib. On the eve of the deadline for sponsorships, the latter counted only 149 signatures of elected officials, and therefore still remained far from the account.
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