Excluded from the second round, the radical left list VIVA! broods bitterly. Already absent during the term ending next Sunday, the failure of the possible last-minute agreement with the social democrats and the ecologists prevented a return through the back door to the Municipal Council.
The list and the associations that make it up will be reduced to expressing themselves through press releases, social media, public demonstrations. It’s better than nothing, but how could one be satisfied with that?
So, they lash out at the “usurpers,” who are suspected of transversal maneuvers and of seeking rather vague agreements. Their list leader, Jean-Marc Governatori (yes, the one with the slogan “my job is management, my passion is ecology,” which makes you want to ask if he likes pizza!), supposedly aspires to be entrusted with “environmental management” (a rather vague definition that deserves more details).
If the accusation from the VIVA! list were true, one would have to wonder why Christian Estrosi should respond with anything other than a burst of laughter. What could be his interest? To neutralize the opposition of a few councilors when his majority will be overwhelming?
Moreover, even if the Mayor of Nice likes being at the forefront as an innovator, this time he would be the inventor of a new variation of representative democracy: a franchising model (a political formation wins the election and then delegates part of its institutional responsibilities to a minority list). Not sure that could work.
It is true that Jean-Marc Governatori is an enigmatic figure, nevertheless…
This is not the first time that Jean-Marc Governatori seeks an “agreement” with Christian Estrosi. Already in 2015, between the two rounds of the Regional elections, with his 4%, in exchange for support to Christian Estrosi, Jean-Marc Governatori boasted of obtaining promises from the Republican candidate, particularly the creation of an institute for ecology and quality of life in the PACA region (endowed with a €30 million budget for the term), which he would chair in case of victory. Unaware of regional realities, Jean-Marc Governatori did not know that such an institute already existed.
Undoubtedly, just as uninformed about municipal realities, does Jean-Marc Governatori know that claiming to be entrusted with environmental management by Estrosi will mean assuming Christian Estrosi’s own decisions? That means, for example: the expansion of the airport, the concretization of the Var plain, costly projects like relocating the Congress Palace, the demolition of the Nice Theater…
Jean-Marc Governatori reaches out to Christian Estrosi, who hasn’t asked for so much. And this before even the second round… This is a demonstration, if needed, that Jean-Marc Governatori has never been a man of the left, and those from EELV who have joined him in this venture, much to the dismay of many ecologist activists, have done so for opportunistic reasons without being too scrupulous about the President of AEI…
For the second round in Nice, left-wing voters, those who voted for Viva! have no choice. Facing the outgoing mayor, obsessed with security policies, a far-right candidate, and a pseudo-ecologist candidate who is not very scrupulous about ethics and now dreams of co-managing with Estrosi.
One thing is certain regarding economic and social issues, Christian Estrosi and Jean-Marc Governatori are “two of a kind” and for the communists on June 28, it will be a blank vote.
It’s important to recognize, right now, that there will be no left-wing opposition within the municipal council, but only in the streets and citizen and associative mobilizations!
Robert Injey, VIVA! list
