EDITORIAL. Facing the National Rally, whether or not to ally with LFI: the dilemma that is fracturing the left

Can the risk of the National Rally coming to power justify the Socialists entering into a new alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon? This is the position of Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialist Party.

It is in the name of the threat of the extreme right that Olivier Faure, the first secretary, narrowly re-elected as head of the Socialist Party , refuses to commit to rejecting any " national and programmatic agreement in the legislative elections to govern with LFI " on Monday, June 16. Despite months of clashes and the multiple attacks that Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his lieutenants inflict on the socialists, the head of the Socialist Party does not want to break definitively with LFI. Because according to him, without a common candidate, the left would be eliminated in the first round in most constituencies.

Arithmetically, it's likely. We saw this in the July 2024 legislative elections. It was because the New Popular Front fielded a single candidate that it achieved a decent result. But from a political perspective, the reasoning doesn't hold water. First, because the NFP was far from an absolute majority, with around 100 seats, and in terms of votes, the left's total is historically low, barely 30% of the vote. Necessary to get past the first round, the alliance with LFI guarantees the left's defeat in the second.

In all the polls, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is now much more unpopular than the Le Pen-Bardella duo. And he's crushed by both in the event of a presidential duel. Through its excesses and outrages, LFI is no longer a barrier, it's a springboard for the RN. By comparison, the far right appears reassuring to a growing segment of public opinion. As proof, Olivier Faure doesn't claim an alliance with the rebels. No, he says he wants to cultivate a " strategic ambiguity ," the phrase that presidents of the Republic use regarding the use of nuclear weapons. This shows how associating with LFI is shady, even shameful.

Because by brutalizing public debate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has made himself unapproachable. Referred to several times as his Jewish faith, the Socialist Party deputy, Jérôme Guedj, ended up calling him an "anti-Semitic bastard," before regretting the word " bastard ," but confirming the accusation of anti-Semitism. A charge supported on Monday, June 16, by Raphaël Glucksmann, who was also targeted in 2024 by the vindictiveness of the rebels during the European campaign.

Olivier Faure, for his part, preferred to dismiss Jérôme Guedj and Jean-Luc Mélenchon back-to-back. And he urges the socialists to change the subject, to talk about pensions or public services, but especially not anti-Semitism. By constantly " calling Jean-Luc Mélenchon an anti-Semite ," he fears that we are " reinforcing the base that sees him as a martyr ." It's true, all that's missing is for the rebels to succumb to the cult of the Leader...