{"id":119295,"date":"2021-04-13T08:55:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T08:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobinmag.com\/2021\/04\/local-election-2022-hauts-de-france-party-unity-coalition\/"},"modified":"2021-04-13T09:39:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T09:39:31","slug":"in-northern-france-a-divided-left-is-finally-coming-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/13\/in-northern-france-a-divided-left-is-finally-coming-together\/","title":{"rendered":"In Northern France, A Divided Left Is Finally Coming Together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

No one on the French left wants the 2022 presidential election to be another contest between Macron and Le Pen, yet its own forces remain deeply divided. A left-wing alliance for the Hauts-de-France regional election is making parties like the Greens and France Insoumise put aside their differences \u2014 but also highlights the difficulties of forming any common strategy for national politics.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n \n
\n Karima Delli, the Green candidate heading the unity coalition in northern France, participates in a demonstration against a controversial airport project near Nantes in the Hautes-de-France region, 2016. (Jean-Sebastein Evrard \/ AFP via Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

For those who see unity as the path forward for France\u2019s badly divided left, the northern region of Hauts-de-France may provide a glimmer of hope. Despite their many differences on the national level, the country\u2019s biggest left-wing parties \u2014 La France Insoumise (LFI), Europe Ecology \u2013 the Greens (EELV), the French Communist Party (PCF), and the Socialist Party (PS), as well as the smaller formations G\u00e9n\u00e9ration.s. and Place Publique \u2014 are joining forces for the regional elections this June.<\/p>\n

Above all, the alliance is driven by survival instinct. Party leaders share a sense that without presenting a united front in the first round on June 13, they\u2019ll be knocked out of contention for the second round on June 20. Under election rules, each ticket earning more than 10 percent qualifies for the runoff round \u2014 which, in this region, is all but certain to involve the right-wing Les R\u00e9publicains (LR) and the National Rally (RN).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve become aware of our responsibilities,\u201d Karima Delli, the Green candidate heading the unity coalition who also serves as a member of European Parliament, tells Jacobin<\/i>. \u201cWe don\u2019t want this lethal scenario between the right and the far-right, and so we\u2019re saying stop to the downward spiral in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the last regional elections, in 2015, the Greens, Communists, and Socialists each ran separate tickets in the northern region, since renamed Hauts-de-France. This area was once a bastion for organized labor and the Left but has struggled heavily with deindustrialization and has seen growing support for the far right in recent years.<\/p>\n

Only the PS qualified for the second round six years ago, finishing well behind Xavier Bertrand of Les R\u00e9publicains and the far right\u2019s Marine Le Pen who led the first-round tally on a staggering 40 percent. To avoid the risk of a Le Pen victory, the PS chose to drop out of the race \u2014 a humiliating sacrifice in a part of the country it once dominated<\/a>. The move achieved its short-term goal, but it deprived the PS of any representation in the Regional Council, leaving it in the hands of a LR majority and a RN opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery simply, we don\u2019t want 2015 to repeat itself,\u201d explains Karima Delli. \u201cFor six years, we\u2019ve had a right wing that\u2019s been inefficient, the social damage has been terrible \u2014 look at the number of companies and factories that have shut down \u2014 and above all, there\u2019s a horrible delay in the environmental transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to consolidating left-leaning electors under one big tent, Delli aims to draw in other voters through a clear message linking labor issues to the environmental crisis. \u201cWhat unites us is our program, the question of the climate and the question of jobs,\u201d she continues. \u201cWhat\u2019s good for employment can be good for our food and good for our lungs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The daughter of Algerian immigrants, the forty-two-year-old currently chairs the EU Parliament\u2019s Committee on Transport and Tourism<\/a> \u2014 experience Delli believes makes her well-equipped for the difficult task of running a coalition government. \u201cMy job in the European Parliament helps me a lot because, every day, I\u2019m working to build majorities with the opposition and with antagonistic forces, finding deals,\u201d she says. \u201cI remain inflexible on values, but I respect my partners each time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n \n

Behind the Wheeling-and-Dealing<\/h2>\n \n

Like least year\u2019s municipal elections, France\u2019s regional and departmental elections famously encourage alliance-building: Unity ahead of the first round can propel tickets to the front of the race, while deals before the second round can make or break majorities.<\/p>\n

That parties on the Left are making pacts is not surprising in itself. But the agreement in the Hauts-de-France is notable because of its broad scope and because of the tensions that exist on the national level, particularly between the PS and LFI whose leaders Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon and Olivier Faure have publicly sniped at each other for the better part of Emmanuel Macron\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics isn\u2019t just about wishes and hopes, you have to deal with what\u2019s in front of you,\u201d says Ugo Bernalicis, a thirty-one-year-old member of the National Assembly leading La France Insoumise in the Hauts-de-France.<\/p>\n

Bernalicis tells Jacobin<\/i> his party\u2019s original plan did not involve making a pact with the PS. He says LFI was aiming for an agreement with the Communists and Greens \u2014 both of whom were open to that possibility but also wanted a deal with the Socialists. Ultimately, that meant the only scenario under which LFI could achieve its goal was a four-party agreement. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean at all that there aren\u2019t contradictions between the left political forces,\u201d Bernalicis stresses. \u201cTo the contrary, there are many and they\u2019ll be present for the presidential election coming up soon.\u201d<\/p>\n