after the union of the left, who presents himself where in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté?

Four left-wing parties join forces for the legislative elections in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. La France insoumise, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party have agreed to present only one candidate in the 27 constituencies of the region. State of play.

Pending validation by the National Council of the Socialist Party this Thursday evening, May 5, the left-wing parties are moving towards a broad union for the legislative elections on June 12 and 19.

At the national level, out of 577 constituencies, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts will present candidates in around a hundred constituencies, the Socialist Party obtained 70 and the Communist Party 50. This leaves a little over 350 constituencies for La France insoumise and the People’s Union of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, first of the left-wing candidates in the presidential election (22% in the first round).

In Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the constituencies were distributed as follows:

• 17 constituencies for La France insoumise
• 5 for Europe Ecology-The Greens
• 4 for the Communist Party
• 1 for the Socialist Party

This distribution inspires several reflections:

• First, blatant observation: the only party which has an outgoing deputy, in this case the Socialist Party of Cécile Untermaieronly getsone constituency, that of the said deputy, the 4th of Saône-et-Loire. Recall that the regional council is chaired by a socialist, Marie-Guite Dufay, re-elected in June 2021 at the head of a list of union of the left (PS-PCF-PRG-EELV).
• Europe Ecology-The Greenswith 5 constituencies, is doing well and will build on its urban electorate. EELV obtained constituencies including all or part of large cities: Dijon, Besançon, Mâcon, Auxerre and Dole. Note that the environmentalist party wants to invest a non-listed candidate, the baker Stéphane Ravacley, in Besançon, the only town he runs in the region (2nd district of Doubs, Besançon-Ornans).
• With four candidates, the Communist Party obtains nearly 15% of the constituencies in the region, but they are difficult to win. Two of them are among the 4 worst left totals in BFC in the first round of the presidential election (see infographic below).
• France insoumise and the Popular Union of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with 17 constituencies out of 27, carve out the lion’s share and should be able to qualify for the second round in a large number of constituencies. LFI will thus present candidates in 7 of the 10 constituencies that voted the most on the left in the first round of the presidential election. The rebellious Séverine Véziès, candidate in the first constituency of Doubs (Besançon – Saint-Vit) will have a good card to play, especially since the outgoing LREM Fannette Charvier will not be a candidate. In this constituency, the four left-wing candidates brought together 34% of voters in the first round of the presidential election (best total in the region).

“Of course we will put them”. This first federal PS of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opposed to the agreement with La France insoumise, bluntly evokes the perspective of dissident socialist candidates: “What Mélenchon wants is for the PS to be the sugar in the coffee and for it to dissolve. But the real socialist poultry does not let itself be plucked without a fight”.

Obviously, the PS of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté can feel aggrieved, but it is also the national PS delegation which favored other constituencies during negotiations with the Insoumis. We even found regional socialist caciques who welcomed this broad union in the morning before condemning it in the afternoon, once the distribution of the constituencies was known. As if the candidacy of the neighbor, of the friend, some would say, mattered more than the national agreement. A union which, according to opinion polls, is also acclaimed by the electorate on the left.

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