Overview
- The 52-minute film
- Primaires : une machine à perdre ?
- was broadcast on LCP on Monday, October 5, 2026, in partnership with L'Express and was produced by veteran journalists Michèle Cotta and Patrice Duhamel.
- The documentary’s central claim, backed by interviews with figures such as François Hollande, Valérie Pécresse and Alain Juppé, is that primaries tend to create divisions inside parties rather than build broad electoral coalitions.
- Coverage traces roughly 20 years of primaries in France, noting six national contests to date and citing examples where winners or participants fared poorly in presidential votes, with François Hollande’s 2012 victory presented as the main exception.
- The film arrives as the Socialist space prepares a primary in the coming two weekends, a timing that has amplified debate about whether parties should keep using primaries and highlighted that some leaders, including Édouard Philippe, refuse them.
- Political consequences to watch include party debate over selection rules, the risk of lasting rivalries that can lower general‑election support, and potential shifts in how left and right formations choose candidates for 2027.