LEGISLATIVE: Sladana Zivkovic, the candidate of the “alliance of social and ecological”
Presenting herself as a “woman on the left” in the first constituency, without being supported by a political party, Sladana Zivkovic wants “neither a majority for Macron, nor Matignon for Mélenchon”. The launch of the campaign took place this Friday, May 20 in Plombières-lès-Dijon.
A dissenting candidate? Sladana Zivkovic refutes the term. However, the member of the Socialist Party in Dijon is launching the legislative elections on the first constituency outside the agreement of the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (NUPES) grouped around Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI).
A double dissidence even since the deputy mayor of Dijon is facing the outgoing deputy Didier Martin, invested by the presidential majority in which François Rebsamen (PS, Progressive Federation) now participates.
“Left-wing, European, social, ecological woman”
In this context, the candidate intends to propose a political offer corresponding to the left wing of the PS, that of before the line of Olivier Faure, tinged with environmental concerns, to be interested in voters who do not recognize themselves in the NUPES without adhering to the policy of Emmanuel Macron.
The socialist thus claims “the convictions of a woman on the left, European, social, ecological” with the watchword “Neither majority for Macron, nor Matignon for Mélenchon”. No logo appears on his campaign documents but a large red rose appears on the poster.
A cultural actor as substitute
In 2017, Sladana Zivkovic was already a candidate, invested by the PS, and had won 8.38% of the vote in the first round. Olivier Muller, the candidate for the Greens, obtained 4.12% of the vote.
In 2022, in the first round of the presidential election, on the constituency, apart from the leading trio Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen, Anne Hidalgo (PS) received 1.99% of the vote and Yannick Jadot (EELV) 6.30%.
Aged 48, residing in Dijon in the first constituency, Sladana Zivkovic has legal training and worked in the territorial public service before devoting herself to her elective mandates. She is a municipal councilor in Dijon, sitting in the majority socialist, radical, citizen and related group. She is deputy mayor of Dijon in charge of Europe, international relations, tourism and congresses as well as vice-president of Dijon Métropole in charge of tourism (excluding sports tourism and river tourism), international relations and export.
Aged 77, residing in Dijon in the first district, the actor and director Pierre Lambert is a substitute. He founded the company Le Théâtre de l’Espoir and each year hosts the Présence Pasteur place of expression (like the high school of the same name) at the Avignon festival. In 2018, he also created the Scènes en Vert festival focused on environmental issues. He is also co-president of the Cercle Laïc Dijonnais.
“We must continue to act vis-à-vis the people furthest from employment”
This Friday, May 20, 2022, Sladana Zivkovic launched her campaign at Le Plaisancia restaurant in Plombières-lès-Dijon with around twenty supporters. Among them, Marcel Tomaselli, well-known associative and sports actor in Dijon, Gilles Paccaud, replacement for the departmental councilor Massar N’Diaye (without label), himself support and excused that evening, as well as Céline Maglica (PS), departmental councilor of the Côte-d’Or and municipal councilor of Plombières-lès-Dijon.
“The first round of the presidential election ended with the elimination of the left, we ended up, as in 2017, facing right-wing politics, very widely represented, assumed by Emmanuel Macron on the one hand, and , on the other, the extreme right”, sums up Sladana Zivkovic while taking the floor.
The tone is set. The candidate intends to testify that the left still counts in the political landscape.
Measures “inapplicable” for the most precarious during the health crisis, reform of the ISF, reform of pensions, reform of high school, “stigmatization of the unemployed and people receiving the RSA” … Sladana Zivkovic combs the social balance sheet of the first five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, believing that “inequalities have widened”.
“We must continue to act vis-à-vis the people furthest from employment, innovate in the social field and not favor only the wealthiest”, holds the speaker.
“Attached to social justice, without any dogmatism, I cannot resign myself to seeing extremes prosper. My commitment for more than 20 years is based on social progress, the fight against inequalities, discrimination and the climate challenge,” she says.
Sladana Zivkovic has thus largely advanced her title of deputy mayor of Dijon concerning international relations in particular.
Create “a fair climate tax”
In environmental matters, the candidate recommends “acting here and now”: promotion of local products, development of short circuits, support for the social and solidarity economy, exit from fossil fuels, support for the conversion of farmers to organic farming, encouraging “sustainable jobs that cannot be relocated” such as in the tourism and culture sectors.
“As an MP, I will commit to sustainable growth by proposing a fair climate tax without impacting the middle classes and the most precarious,” says Sladana Zivkovic in reference to the tax on “super profits” activated in Italy.
In his program, the candidate also indicates that he opposes the pension reform, wants to create a “minimum youth of 600 euros per month” subject to means testing, increase the minimum wage by 200 euros net per month and make up for “the loss of power purchase” of civil servants.
“The LFI candidate is parachuted from the 5th arrondissement of Paris”
On the political chapter, Sladana Zivkovic regrets “the inability to agree on a common project that is probably left” on the part of the multiple presidential candidates and castigates “a race to defeat”.
“I refused to let down again our fellow citizens who believe in social Europe and ecology. I refused that this first constituency falls into the radicalism of La France Insoumise”, declares the one who describes Jean-Luc Mélenchon as a “populist candidate”.
“The LFI candidate [NDLR : Antoine Peillon] is parachuted from the 5th arrondissement of Paris. He spends more time looking at his plan than meeting ‘real people’ as his mentor says. I understand the disappointment of LFI activists on the ground, this Parisian investiture which is anything but popular, in every sense of the word, ”she adds.
“The outgoing deputy has disadvantaged the citizens”
Pursuing her strategy of targeting both the camp of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and that of Emmanuel Macron, the speaker shoots a few arrows in the direction of Didier Martin: “on the right, the outgoing deputy has disadvantaged the citizens of his constituency for five years ” .
“He dodged the debate on glyphosate, refused to vote for the extension of the legal deadline for abortion and he also suffered a heavy defeat in the departmental elections. From this point of view, he joined the positions of the conservative right represented in the first constituency by Mr. Dugourd”, she continues.
“The candidacy of reliability, local roots and commitment”
“My candidacy bears the responsibility of bringing together left-wing voters from the first round to offer a vote of hope, a humanist and responsible vote, a vote of real ecology and for Europe. With my deputy Pierre Lambert, we embody the candidacy of reliability, local roots and commitment, ”insists Sladana Zivkovic.
“It’s the alliance of social and ecological,” she summarizes. “I want to invest myself for all the inhabitants, for the districts, for the municipalities and for all the actors who make our beautiful district live.”
“An elected official, an elected official by conviction”
“We are here to support you,” rebounds Marcel Tomaselli after the applause of the audience. “Compared to our philosophy, compared to what we have defended for years, there is still a real battle to be fought. (…) You have proven to be the buoy of socialism in this sector.”
“It is quite naturally that I support the candidacy of Sladana”, slips in turn Céline Maglica, “we have been campaigning together for a long time in the Socialist Party”. “It’s a constituency that I know well since I myself was Laurent Grandguillaume’s deputy during his mandate, I know the work that needs to be done, which is not being asked to be done very well at the moment. We do not feel represented by the current MP who is not very present on the ground when we had a Laurent Grandguillaume who was extremely present, who knew everyone and everything there was to fight . (…) Sladana is elected on the ground, elected by conviction, elected on the left.”
Gilles Paccaud supports the candidate for “her humanist values” and “her constancy in her commitment” and a “righteousness that we wish to see within politics in general”. After recalling the help provided by Sladana Zivkovic during the departmental campaign in 2021, the activist hopes to see her contribute to the “socialism of tomorrow”.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon