Three articles examining Philippe Poutou’s response to the defection of several of his party officials who have switched support to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Photo: Florent Dupuy, SIPA
Article Sources: “Philippe Poutou lâché par les cadres du NPA”, Thomas Morel (with AFP), France Soir (21/03/2012); “Besancenot vole au secours de Poutou, lâché par le NPA”, Thomas Morel (with AFP), France Soir (22/03/2012); “Philippe Poutou souligne ses différences avec Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, AFP, l’Express (25/03/2012).
Philippe Poutou abandoned by NPA officials
Thomas Morel (with AFP), France Soir (21/03/2012)
Three executives of the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste are to announce in a column published on Thursday [22nd March] that they will call on their supporters to vote for Jean-Luc Mélenchon rather than for their own candidate, Philippe Poutou.
This was the last thing Philippe Poutou needed. Having hit a low point in the polls – he is credited with less than 1% of voting intentions, his support swallowed up by the candidacies of Nathalie Arthaud (Lutte Ouvrière) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Front de gauche), now even his own party officials are abandoning him. In a column to be published on Thursday in Libération, three Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste executives call on people not to vote for him in the first round of the presidential election.
Myriam Martin, the NPA spokeswoman who resigned this week, Olivier Besancenot’s former right-hand man, Pierre-François Grond, and a previous party leader, Hélène Adam, give their reasons: “With this candidate, the NPA is taking the road to obscurity, which will prevent it from having any real influence on a political situation where there is a lot at stake.” Instead they think the party founded by Olivier Besancenot should join the Front de gauche, so as to have some real electoral clout. “We must not hesitate to say that if many of us express our strength through our vote on April 22nd for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the situation will undoubtedly be changed for the better,” they suggest.
The PS in a predicament
The success of last Sunday’s Bastille rally, organized by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has reshuffled the deck on the left wing. By assembling more than 100,000 people, the Front de gauche candidate, who is credited with 10 to 11% of the votes in the polls, has emerged as one of the leading political forces of this presidential campaign. The Parti Socialiste, which this Autumn was banking on an alliance with The Greens, will now have to perform a balancing act in order to rally everyone behind its candidate. François Hollande is well aware that without the support of the Front de gauche, it will be difficult for him to get the upper hand over Nicolas Sarkozy.
Besancenot rides to the rescue of Poutou
Thomas Morel (with AFP), France Soir (22/03/2012)
The 2002 and 2007 presidential candidate reaffirms his support for Philippe Poutou, whilst the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste is split over the future of his candidacy.
Olivier Besancenot rides to the rescue of Philippe Poutou. As three Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste executives call for their candidate to withdraw from the presidential race and to rally behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon, France’s most famous postman who ran for president in 2002 and 2007, hopes Philippe Poutou will not lose heart.
During a visit to Florange (in the Moselle), where he had come to support striking ArcelorMittal steelworkers in the fight to save their factory, Olivier Besancenot stood up for his candidate: “He [Philippe Poutou] must maintain his candidacy, which the NPA also needs to prepare future elections. There’s all the more reason for him to stay in the race now that he will have the same speaking time as Nicolas Sarkozy. It’s worth it for that reason alone...”
For Olivier Besancenot, the whole thing is above all “the foreseeable outcome of a leadership crisis.” Since he announced in May 2011 that he would not take part in a presidential election campaign for a third time, tensions have been rising within the NPA. The appointment of Philippe Poutou as his replacement was not unanimously approved, receiving the support of a mere 53% of NPA delegates, while others called for an alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon. At the time, even the worker from Blanquefort (Poutou) himself acknowledged the “crisis situation” within his party.
The Communist Party doesn’t believe it will happen
For his part, Communist Party [PCF] secretary-general, Pierre Laurent, does not believe that Philippe Poutou will put an end to his campaign to join the Front de gauche. “I don’t think he’ll do it because he has managed to collect the signatures” required to run for president.
But he deplores the fact that the NPA is allowing itself to become marginalised: “We are gaining ground and those who have refused to take part in this unifying process will be increasingly isolated. They have missed the boat of unity, they are going to pay the electoral price.” According to a CSA poll published on Thursday morning, Jean-Luc Mélenchon gets 13,5% of the voting intentions, as opposed to 0,5% for Philippe Poutou.
Philippe Poutou underlines his differences from Jean-Luc Mélenchon
AFP, l’Express (25/03/2012)
PARIS - Nouveau Parti Anti-capitaliste candidate, Philippe Poutou, underlined his differences from Jean-Luc Mélenchon this Sunday, once again dismissing the recent calls from NPA officials for him to withdraw in favour of the Front de gauche candidate.
“We have things to say that are different from what Mélenchon says”, “[he’s been] a politician for many years,” Philippe Poutou told Europe1, I-Télé and Le Parisien.
“With the Front de gauche, Mélenchon thinks collaboration with Hollande might be conceivable. Mélenchon is opposed to economic liberalism. He thinks finance should be challenged. We think the capitalist system should be overthrown,” said the NPA candidate.
But Philippe Poutou also suggested that European socialists impose “austerity policies against the people.”
For his part, Poutou wishes for a “genuinely left wing” government “which joins the fight, and which genuinely makes a difference. Not one that’s all talk. A government that makes the capitalists pay.”
“We must put an end to empty rhetoric, which means making fundamental anti-capitalist political choices,” he insisted.
“Getting rid of Sarkozy will not be enough to stop the politics of economic liberalism,” argued Philippe Poutou, explaining that the NPA intended to put up candidates “wherever possible” for the legislative elections in June.
“We need to be there to denounce capitalism,” he concluded.
Translation: Aurélie Gontier
Editing: Sam Trainor