It's over. Thus writes Liberation, a newspaper that has always been close to the French left, regarding a possible - but now faded - hypothesis of alliance between the candidate of the socialist party Benoit Hamon and the leader of the radical left Jean Luc Melenchonahead of the presidential election scheduled for April 23.
“Nobody believes in a rapprochement between the two candidates of the left anymore”, writes the transalpine newspaper in a rather sarcastic piece, which talks about a situation “that was turning to the absurd” and of two candidates who "now can't wait to move on, perhaps concentrating on their programmes". “Ever since Hamon's victory in the Socialist Primaries at the end of January – Libé also wrote – both he and Melenchon have played the game, typical of the left, of 'I am the one who seeks unity', to then offload the blame lack of approach to the other”.
The definitive stop came from Hamon directly from Lisbon, where he is visiting the - socialist - government of Portugal, according to the French press, the virtuous model of "gauche plurielle" (pluralist left, model of the olive tree) that Hollande's dauphin would like to import to Paris. For his part, Melenchon does not intend to give in, given that the polls accredit him by at least 10-11%, a percentage that will not guarantee him the ballot but which may not be so lower than what the candidate expressed by the current majority will collect, dropped to levels of unpopularity never seen after the flop of Hollande's mandate. If anything, the surprise is that the French Communist Party, of which Melenchon is not a member (it has its own independent movement, "La France insoumise") but to which it is certainly close in terms of positioning, could eventually support Hamon.
In short, there have been and still are attempts to approach the universe of the left, but they shouldn't prevent us from finding both Melenchon's and Hamon's names on the ballot papers on Sunday 23 April for the first round of the presidential elections. This situation should turn to the advantage of Emmanuel Macron, ex-minister of the economy with Hollande and leader of a movement that could garner votes from left to right, especially if it were to go to the ballot with Marine Le Pen. He plays with François Fillon, back from a heavy scandal on fictitious jobs for his wife and children but according to the polls not yet out of the game.
