2022 French People's Primary

The People's Primary () is a nomination vote launched by independent activists to nominate a common left-wing candidate for the 2022 French presidential election. The process involved two steps. Firstly, an online sponsorship of potential participants was started in July 2021 and completed in October 2021. After this, a vote among seven candidates took place from 27 to 30 January 2022, three of whom declined to participate in the primary. The primary was conducted according to a majority judgment voting system, in which all voters rate all candidates, with the candidate with the highest median rating winning.

Christiane Taubira, the only well-known candidate who was willing to participate, won the primary. Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came in second and third place respectively had not given their consent to be candidates. Taubira subsequently pulled out of the presidential race on 2 March 2022, citing the main reason being that she only achieved 181 of the 500 required sponsorships. After Taubira withdrew from the race, the organizers of the primary announced their support for Mélenchon's campaign, despite finishing in third place by the voters.

History

Foundation and structure

The initiative for a so-called "people's" primary for the leftists and greens was launched by the collective "Rencontre des justices", formed in October 2020 by "social entrepreneurs" and a range of activists, who wanted to create a "justice bloc". They have described this as a "third way" between an "identity bloc" and a "neoliberal bloc", which covers voters from a wide range of the left, from the more centrist parties to anti-capitalist ones.

The activists hope to use a primary to nominate a single unity candidate who will promote a progressive agenda and provide an alternative to the battle between incumbent President Macron and the extreme right of Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour. Their goal was that the candidate bring together a fragmented and divided left, in order to respond to "environmental, social and economic emergencies". They hope that the candidate will gather enough support to reach the second round, after the defeat of the Socialist Party which finished in fifth place in the 2017 presidential election.

A structure called "2022 or never" was responsible for organising the primary, created in February 2021. It is made up of six employees and received 30,000 euros in fundraising.

Local groups were set up to prepare a local base beyond labels.

The primary claims the support of around a hundred major figures, including director Cyril Dion, actors Charles Berling and Juliette Binoche, yellow vest activist Priscillia Ludosky, journalist Marie-Monique Robin and climatologist Jean Jouzel.

Among the first potential candidates interested was MEP Pierre Larrouturou, the former socialist Gérard Filoche, and environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau.

The first step in the process of the primary was the drafting of a common platform made up of "flagship proposals" to which the candidates and voters must adhere.

In May 2021, Samuel Grzybowski, spokesperson for the popular primary, declared to the press that "for several months, each week, a 'council of the parties' has been meeting to agree on a common base", without specifying which parties.

A few months later, it was announced that citizens could sponsor candidates until October, with the vote originally scheduled for taking place in late Autumn. Visitors to the website were given two options: to promote names themselves and to approve one of the existing candidates.

Reactions and protests from the major candidates

No political party nor any of the major candidates committed themselves to the primary, even if some have not outright opposed it, as they want to keep their candidates. In January, Christiane Taubira was the only one to commit to stepping down in the event of defeat, after having rejected any presidential candidacy in September.

By the time of the primary, the following parties had already nominated their candidates:

* La France Insoumise had already nominated as candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who obtained 19.6% in the previous presidential election.
* The French Communist Party had also already made a nomination of its candidate by its members from 7 to 9 May 2021. Fabien Roussel obtained 82.32% of the vote against 15.70% blank and null votes, 1.82% to Emmanuel Dang Tran and 0.16% to Grégoire Munck, the other two candidates.
* The Socialist Party held its own primary in October 2021, in which 72% of the votes cast went to the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, against 28% for the other candidate Stéphane Le Foll.
* The Greens collectively organised their own primary in September 2021, open to non-members. 51.03% of the votes in the second round went to Yannick Jadot.

Mélenchon signified his refusal to partake in the primary, as did Jadot. Hidalgo originally was open to the proposal, but backtracked after she won her party's primary.

Taubira ruled out a candidacy in September 2021, but revoked this in December, officially announcing her participation in the Primary on 9 January 2022.

The political platform

Participation in the primary was based on a common platform of around ten political proposals, which the organizers claim to be inspired by the demands of the latest social movements and compatible with the programs of the parties concerned. No major party came out in favour of this platform.

Presented in early July, the platform contained policies such as scrapping nuclear power by 2050, a thermal renovation plan, a 'solidarity income' from the age of 18, a modernisation of the wealth tax, the introduction of multi-member proportional voting in legislative elections and a reduction in the working week. It did not take a position on certain divisive subjects, such as the European Union.

Organisation

Funding

The "2022 or never" association finances its employees, auto-entrepreneurs, its trainees and this vote. It declared that it received 730,000 euros in donations and 175,000 euros in loans. There were loans of up to €100,000 by business leaders and three donations of more than €20,000.

Election funding

One week before the vote and two days before the closing date for registrations, the financing of this election from the technological service providers did not seem assured, forcing the association to raise money.

Sponsorships

The candidate sponsorship process was open from 11 July to 11 October 2021, through an online voting system.

Twelve initial people were proposed by the organizers at the launch of this process:

* Pierre Larrouturou - New Deal
* Sandrine Rousseau - EELV
* Yannick Jadot - EELV
* Éric Piolle - EELV
* Arnaud Montebourg

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