The Communist presidential candidate of France and the Kurds…

Although lagging in the polls, Fabien Roussel, the presidential candidate of the French Communist Party (PCF), is giving a new impulse to the left-wing political scene. Roussel aims to arouse curiosity by going beyond the traditional framework and organizes mass rallies. He attracts attention by addressing different topics such as purchasing power, nuclear energy, security and even gastronomy.

The Communist Party has not made its presence felt in the presidential elections for the past 15 years. The PCF wants to gather strength and it distinguishes itself from other left parties with Roussel’s candidacy. For example, Roussel adopts a realistic approach to nuclear energy and thinks that instead of shutting down nuclear power plants like other leftist candidates promised, it is necessary to invest in nuclear energy in order to decrease electricity prices. Advocating tight measures on security, migration and secularism, Roussel states that he wants a “populist left” instead of a left that seeks to ban “meat and cars”.

Roussel, who seems to get over 4 percent in the latest polls, is the second most popular after Jean-Luc Melenchon among left-wing voters. Roussel’s motto is “France of Happy Days”.

Roussel and his party PCF have been on good terms with the Kurdish people for many years now. Roussel participated in the commemoration event this year for the three Kurdish women revolutionaries who were murdered in Paris on January 9, 2013 and expressed his solidarity.

At a party rally held in Marseille at the weekend and attended by around 4,000 people, Roussel commemorated the journalists who were murdered in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, the teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded and the Kurds who fought against ISIS. The communist candidate noted that he was proud of “the Kurds who are currently fighting the irredentist Islamists and are subjected to the bombings of Erdogan and Turkey.” His remarks were applauded by the participants in the rally.

Some details about the election program were also addressed during the rally. Roussel promised to increase the minimum wage. “I reject the idea that millions of people are exposed to bad living conditions while we have so much money and wealth,” he said.

However, the fragmented state of the left-wing political scene constitutes the biggest impediment to success in the elections. According to the latest polls, current President Emmanuel Macron comes first with 24 percent of the votes, liberal-conservative LR candidate Valérie Pécresse comes second with 16.5 percent, and far-right candidates Marin Le Pen and Eric Zemmour get 14 percent. Left parties could not agree on a single candidate.