Juliette Chesnel‑Le Roux filed her United for Nice list at 3 p.m. this Monday at the prefecture for the second round of municipal elections. A decision that definitively confirms the absence of a left-wing coalition in Nice, despite a meeting held that very morning with Nice Popular Front. The two camps are now mutually accusing each other of causing the negotiations to fail.
Before the press, Juliette Chesnel‑Le Roux confirmed this afternoon that she was maintaining her list in the second round, despite pressures coming “from all levels, from local to national.” She claims to have been informed of attempted interventions from the Élysée or Matignon, without having responded to them: “I had turned off my phone, she says. They probably don’t know Nice’s political life well enough.”
The Green candidate claims a “collective” decision, made with all of her list members and the parties supporting her. She assures that she has remained “true to her values” and refuses the idea of stepping aside in favor of Christian Estrosi but instead asks the incumbent mayor: “if Christian Estrosi is republican, if he loves this city, let him step aside to allow for a true republican coalition.”
She also accuses the incumbent mayor of having “normalized the far right” for years, recalling his past alliances and the presence of former Le Pen cadres in his circle.
A morning meeting that falls short
Yet the morning had started on a more promising note. At the invitation of United for Nice, a delegation from Nice Popular Front with Mireille Damiano, Olivier Salerno, Anne‑Laure Chaintron and David Nakache attended a working meeting.
According to the Nice Popular Front:
- no major programmatic differences were noted,
- no red lines were drawn regarding the composition of a potential joint list,
- and it was United for Nice that asked Nice Popular Front to put forward a proposal.
The delegation represented by Mireille Damiano said it had presented “a draft balanced list based on respective electoral weights.” A joint statement before the press was even supposed to be made to formalize this first step. But less than twenty minutes later, everything changed.
Nice Popular Front denounces a “unilateral refusal”
In a very firm statement, the Nice Popular Front accuses Juliette Chesnel‑Le Roux of abruptly ending discussions: “Julien Picot called Mireille Damiano to inform her of a unilateral and definitive refusal, with no possibility to continue negotiations, while at the same time publishing a pre-prepared press release.”
The movement speaks of an “insincere” approach, an “irresponsible and unconscious” strategy, and believes that the interests of Nice residents have been “sidelined in favor of individual interests.”
The list led by Mireille Damiano emphasizes that in many cities “from Avignon to Toulouse via Lyon” agreements are being reached to form a barrier against the far right, and accuses United for Nice of having “immediately ended any possibility of a common front.”
Two irreconcilable narratives
Juliette Chesnel‑Le Roux, for her part, describes a meeting marked by “inconceivable demands” from the Nice Popular Front, notably the request to remove socialist candidates in electable positions. She claims that the proposal from coalition members who finished in fourth place in the first round amounted to demanding “practically half of the list positions.”
The Nice Popular Front formally denies this version and assures it only requested a balance proportional to first-round results. The two camps thus shift responsibility for the failure onto each other in negotiations that have never come to fruition for nearly a year. The Nice Popular Front, meanwhile, calls for “continuing the front against the far right and the far right that paves the way for it.”
Juliette Chesnel‑Le Roux says she has already restarted her campaign, particularly among those who abstained: “many Nice residents tell us: stay the course, don’t give in to pressure.” She is preparing to sit in opposition to Éric Ciotti if he wins: “there will need to be strong opposition to defend housing for all, fight discrimination and protect the most vulnerable.”
In the end, the day after the first round of this municipal election, no united dynamic will have survived. The left will be divided, in a configuration where each voice will carry weight, but separately.
Remarks gathered by Diane Roustan
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