Plural left

The Plural left is the name of the alliance of parties of the left French and of the Verts, of 1997 with 2002. This alliance corresponds to the Gouvernement of Lionel Jospin. Jean-Christophe Cambadélis was however the theorist. It comprised:

The plural majority was imagined in a few weeks, following the dissolution missed by the National Assembly ordered by Jacques Chirac, on the councils of Dominique de Villepin.

She comprises an electoral aspect and a political agreement.

Electoral shutter

The electoral agreement consists in for its members supporting the outgoing candidate of a formation of future the " plurielle" majority; as of the first turn.

When the seat is occupied by a right elected member, and that the parties did not manage to agree on an one applicant, the candidate best placed at the first turn is supported by the other formations with the second. The Socialist party reserve a certain number of legislative districts to the Greens in order to allow them to have elected officials with the National Assembly.

Many seats obtained:

Socialist party: 242
French Communist party: 36
Radical left party: 13
Movement of the citizens: 7
Greens: 6

Political shutter

The political program is buckled in a few weeks. It is strongly influenced by the movement from November-December 1995 and the sets of themes of the presidential campaign of Lionel Jospin. It comprises three principal shutters centered on the fight against unemployment.

the Reduction of the weekly working time at 35 hours without losses of wages negotiated.
the revival of the employment of the young people with a plan Employment-youths of 700.000 contracts in the public sector or para-publis and the private one.
the refusal to sign the Treated of Amsterdam, a stability pact and of growth which founds the Euro as long as the negotiations on a European social treaty are not committed.

But more basically, the plural majority is not an attempt at synthesis on the left. Confronted with the exercise of the capacity, the plural left will tend to entrust ecology to the Greens, the social one with the Communists, the republic with Jean-Pierre Chevènement and management with the Socialists.

Moreover, Lionel Jospin held so that the decisions are made collégialement within its majority, tendency reinforced by the fact that the absence of one of its components could put in danger the majority.

Limits

The limits of this formula derived from the union of the left are contained in the name of this primarily electoral agreement. The Pluralisme implies that no one does not give up its specificities nor with the criticism of its partners, sometimes with the contempt of the governmental solidarity. One observes strong tuggings between political trainings, obliging the Socialists to place itself in position of referee, a hegemony badly felt by the other parties. Thus, for example, the Greens dispute with the Communist party its position of second force in the coalition. To affirm their role within the majority, of the Green ministers and PCF express in the street, during the Demonstration against the unemployment of October 1999… to challenge the government.

When the Process of Matignon, about the statute of the Corsica , directly implies a basic confrontation between Lionel Jospin and Jean-Pierre Chevènement, this last leaves the government in 2001.

The failure of the municipal elections of 2001 sounds as a warning for the left which is not heard, probably because of its resounding victories with Paris and Lyon which plays the part of the tree which hiding place the forest.

The centrifugal force contained in the formula of the plural majority is still accentuated with the inversion of the electoral calendar decided by the President and the Prime Minister because of the five-year period. Internal tearings of the plural majority appear in full light at the time of the presidential election of 2002, which takes place before the legislative ones. April 21st, 2002, the principal left-wing candidate, Lionel Jospin, is eliminated from the poll to the first turn, is preceded by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

See too

Government Lionel Jospin

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