Legislative: the PCF mayor of Vénissieux withdraws in favor of the LFI candidate

May 17, 2022

The PCF mayor of Vénissieux Michèle Picard officially withdrew her candidacy for the legislative elections on Monday, stepping aside in the name of the fight “against the right and the far right” in favor of the new Nupes candidate appointed after the withdrawal of Taha Bouhafs, accused of sexual violence.

In the 14th district of the Rhône, the candidate of the Nupes (New popular ecological and social union) will finally be the Insoumis Idir Boumertit, 4th deputy of the PCF town hall and who was the campaign director of Taha Bouhafs.

Initially invested by LFI, the militant journalist withdrew his candidacy on Tuesday, denouncing “unprecedented” attacks. The next day, LFI announced the opening of an internal investigation after accusations of sexual violence against him.

Also vice-president of the Metropolis of Lyon, Ms. Picard, supported by the communist leader Fabien Roussel, hoped to replace Taha Bouhafs as the candidate of Nupes. But his hope was quickly dashed.

“At the announcement of a mediatized and divisive parachuting, which can only divide, we had decided to maintain our candidacy, the most effective in beating the right and the far right”, recalled Monday Ms. Picard in a press release.

“The legitimate candidacy of a woman, a committed, combative PCF mayor, seems to pose a problem for Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, but “in this situation of division on the left and despite the very many supports expressed this weekend, I choose to preserve and continue the work in Vénissieux and in the Metropolis”, explains the mayor of one of the last bastions of municipal communism.

“This is why, with Guillaume Dumoulin, we are withdrawing our candidacy (…). Idir Boumertit will therefore be the candidate of Nupes”, concludes Ms. Picard.

The head of LFI negotiators, Manuel Bompard, welcomed this “positive” news to AFP. “They understood that if the agreement was not respected in one place, it would be difficult to enforce it elsewhere”, where the invested candidates are communists, he underlined.

In the presidential election in this constituency, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came out on top in the first round with 48.78% of the vote, ahead of Emmanuel Macron (17.97%) and Marine Le Pen (15.33%), Fabien Roussel collecting 3 .45%.