The leader of France’s far-left party France Unbowed, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has said he will run for president in 2022 – if he gets 150,000 signatures of support from citizens. His announcement sparked criticism from many MPs, including from his side of the political spectrum, who denounced a "selfish" move that would divide the left, reports RFI.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who stood in the 2012 and 2017 presidential elections, announced on TF1 television that he would run again in 2022 if he gets the 150,000 signatures.
National coordinator of the France Unbowed party (La France Insoumise, LFI) and MP in the north of France, Adrien Quatennens reported on Monday that Mélenchon had already garnered nearly 50,000 signatures on the online platform.
"All those people who criticise him, and say 150,000 votes are not enough, we’ll be watching them. When they’ve got their results, we’ll see what happens," he told public radio France Info.
Mélenchon says the number is not chosen randomly. It refers to the democratic process which requires each candidate to have 500 signatures from elected officials in order to launch a campaign.