Photo: Olivier Besancenot, Philippe Poutou and Christine Poupin singing the Internationale at the NPA party conference, on August 29th, 2011. AFP/RAYMONG ROIG
Article Source: “Philippe Poutou peine à se faire connaître”, Raphaëlle Besse Desmoulières, Le Monde (25/11/2011)
The French presidential campaign is definitely no easy task for Philippe Poutou. A belated choice of the Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA), with the support of only a section of the organisation, the Ford worker is reported to have been promised only 250 of the 500 endorsement signatures from elected representatives required to allow him to stand for election.
Unknown to the general public – in late October, only 3% of the French population could name him as the NPA candidate, according to a TNS-Sofres poll for Canal+ – Poutou has received... 0% of voting intentions in recent polls.
“Radio stations and TV channels are beginning to take an interest in him,” Alain Krivine suggests, after Poutou was invited by France Inter radio on Thursday, November 24th. The former presidential candidate for the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR), which has now become the NPA, also points out that Poutou's predecessor, Olivier Besancenot, was in a similar situation when the LCR selected him as candidate in 2001.
“It’s true that when he was chosen by the party he was unknown to the general public, but not within the LCR. He was used to speaking in public, to standing up for his views and arguing his case,” explains Florence Johsua, a researcher at Cevipof, the Centre for Political Studies at Sciences Po, and an NPA specialist.
This underlines another difficulty faced by Phillipe Poutou: succeeding the extremely media-friendly postman from Neuilly, who won 4.25% of the vote in 2002 and 4.08% in 2007. “It takes time to make a name for oneself,” insists Léon Crémieux, an LCR “veteran”.
This is no easy task, especially when the former candidate is still so central to the campaign, even to the point of chairing meetings alongside the official candidate, as was the case once more on Thursday in Saint-Denis, in front of about 500 people.
BLAMING THE MEDIA
“I’m Philippe Poutou’s official postman in a collective campaign”, jokes Olivier Besancenot. The NPA leadership, which opposes the personality politics of presedential elections, also emphasises this “collective aspect”. “There’s more than one voice in the NPA,” Mr Crémieux says, “to us, it makes sense that Olivier should be present, he hasn’t retired from political life.” “Olivier is a de facto spokesperson,” admits Alain Krivine.
Another argument, put forward by Christine Poupin, one of two official spokespersons for the NPA, is that Phillipe Poutou still works part-time at the Ford factory. And if Besancenot keeps being seen on television, “it’s because the media tell us it’s Olivier or nothing,” she adds.
“There’s no reason why Philippe Poutou should not benefit from Olivier Besancenot’s fame,” argues Ingrid Hayes, who comes from one of the party’s minority groups. “It’s only logical that he should ease the transition, but eventually Philippe will have to appear on his own.”
His first solo TV appearance, on the talk-show “On n’est pas couché” broadcast on France 2, was not a success. Poutou, obviously ill-at-ease, was given quite a rough ride by the host, Laurent Ruquier, and his co-presenters.
“I’m not bothered at all by Olivier’s presence,” confirms Phillipe Poutou, “I’ll try to do as well as him, but I’m not here to draw comparisons.” Comparisons, though, are unavoidable when we observe the two men on the platform of the Bourse du Travail (trade union offices) in Saint-Denis.
Unlike his predecessor, who acted as his warm-up man, the NPA candidate is not used to speaking in front of such a large crowd, and finds it difficult to lift his gaze from his notes.
But this has not deterred him from presenting his “emergency programme”: debt relief, a ban on redundancies, the minimum wage set at 1,600 Euros net per month, a retirement age of 60, the establishment of a state banking service, “anti-capitalist taxes”, and the phasing out of nuclear power. “I’ve lost my thread,” he apologises with a smile after a brief pause in his speech.
The measures proposed by the NPA should be making waves in the current climate, but they are struggling to spread beyond the venue’s walls. For Florence Johsua, the far-left party is also a victim of its own past success: “However much the NPA is against the game of personality politics,” she says, “it’s now paying the price for having played it.”
Translation: Mélanie Benaiteau, Agnès Brihaye and Aurélie Gontier.
Editing: Sam Trainor.