An internal campaign is opening, assuming it wasn’t already open for quite some time, and it seems, in the end, that it will definitely be a Patrick who will try to unsettle the UMP candidate in the winter Nice election.
Nice Premium went to meet the candidate Patrick Mottard who reflects on the upcoming elections awaiting the Nice socialists.
Nice Premium: Patrick Mottard, a burning question on the lips of Azurian socialists. Will you be a candidate for the nomination for the upcoming Nice municipal elections?
Patrick Mottard: As early as 2001, I announced my intention to continue municipal work. I have been a candidate for mayor of Nice since then. The candidacy for the socialist nomination logically stems from this intention.
NP: Patrick Allemand also announced his candidacy for this primary. What is your opinion on this?
PM: Statutorily, he has the right. Politically, it’s a different matter. Let’s see.
On one side, a candidate (myself),
- who led the list in 2001 that almost won (41% against 43% for Peyrat with a difference of 3,500 votes),
- who manages a group, Nice Plurielle, bringing together four left-wing political parties, a group that works, opposes, proposes and achieves results (Gare du Sud, Port of Nice, Vialatte affair, Monleau affair, Sulzer file…),
- who chooses Nice by not running in the legislative elections.
On the other, a candidate (P. Allemand), who is already Vice President of the region, general councilor, first federal secretary of the Socialist Party, a candidate for the legislative elections, and who also wants to lead the municipal list.
Where is the logic in all this?
NP: Two Patricks for one post. Wouldn’t it have been healthier to unite a team behind one person rather than plunge into an internal guerrilla?
PM: Obviously, and I’ve always said that Patrick Allemand has a place on the future team.
NP: Other left-wing candidates may be present in the municipals (Picard, Ciccolini). Do you think it will be possible to unite these forces from the first round?
PM: On the left, there are already the four political components of Nice Plurielle (PS, PCF, Alternatifs, Greens). Others are, of course, useful for gathering (for Ciccolini, the question doesn’t arise, since he joined the PS, as did some of the members of his 1995 and 2001 lists). But this gathering cannot shrink to a left that represents no more than 35% in Nice. It must also extend to others and civil society.
NP: In 2001, the triangulation opposed you to the RPR and the FN. Given the collapse of the National Front, how do you imagine the 2008 election?
PM: We’ll see. But we must not forget that Dominique Boy-Mottard won the 7th canton (also a local election) in a duel against the UMP candidate.
NP: A new player in the municipal elections, the MoDem. Do you think a local rapprochement with Franรงois Bayrou’s party is possible?
PM: Certainly. In my mind, the gathering excludes no one, especially not MoDem. The important thing is to agree on well-defined objectives.
NP: Moving on to the national level. What do you think of the Lang and DSK cases?
PM: I admit to experiencing this period quite poorly. Like many activists, I no longer quite recognize my party.
NP: Finally, do you think a reform of the PS is desirable or even indispensable for moving forward?
PM: Not a reform but reforms: institutional, political, cultural, ideological, and… ethical.
