Adrien Quatennens in Toulouse: “All the ingredients are there in favor of Mélenchon”
First meeting of the presidential campaign last night in Toulouse with the Insoumis deputies. Adrien Quatennens sees a dynamic in favor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The Insoumis deputies Mathilde Panot, Adrien Quatennens and the MEP Manuel Bompard gave yesterday evening at the Petit Palais des Sports, with a first meeting, the kick-off of the presidential campaign in Toulouse. Interview with Adrien Quatennens.
In 2017, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came out on top in Toulouse with 29% of the vote. In 2019, at the Europeans, La France insoumise drops to 9%. Where have the voters gone?
You can’t compare exams. A movement like ours is calibrated for the presidential and legislative elections. Today, according to polls, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is between 10 and 13%, double that of his competitors. This debate (which is best placed on the left, editor’s note) is no longer relevant. With less than 60 election days, all the ingredients are there with two effects that play out in full. The first is effective voting: if I want to change things, I know I have to choose the Mélenchon ballot. The second is popular participation. More than the other parties, our fate is linked to it. Polls tend to disregard it.
In 2019, Jean-Luc Mélenchon feared that “the angry people vote facho”. Isn’t the risk the same?
A comrade told me that he had convinced a voter of Zemmour in a single sentence: do you intend to work longer? Once we have extracted from the speeches of Zemmour and Le Pen the subjects of obsession, such as immigration, there are only right-wing or even Macronist programs left. Their goal is to divide the people rather than bring them together.
Why do you support the “Freedom Convoys”?
I observe that most of the participants are not against the vaccine but against freedom-killing measures and for the increase in purchasing power. There is a misdiagnosis of believing that the yellow vests have come home. This France which has mobilized for a better distribution of wealth has no reason to return home. It is another form of the same mobilization.