to the National Secretariat of the party in December 2008 and was summoned on 25 January 2009 by Pouria Amirshahi to clarify his attitude after his criticisms of the party's plan for the financial crisis and his numerous accolades of Nicolas Sarkozy. "Malek Boutih should choose which side he's on." 2007 Legislative elections Malek Boutih was chosen as candidate for the Charente's 4th constituency in the 2007 Legislative elections on 1 July 2006 at the national congress of the Socialist Party. Almost all of the elected Socialists in the department made publicly known their hostility to his candidature and their willingness to block him since he was parachuted into the position. The First Federal Secretary had effectively organised a consultative vote in the constituency between candidates Martine Pinville and Jeanne Filloux, before Malek Boutih's appointment. Selected by the local party members, Martine Pinville chose to keep her candidature with the official support of the Socialist Party, thus she was excluded at the national committee meeting of 22 May 2007, along with her alternate candidate, the outgoing Socialist deputy Jean-Claude Beauchaud. Boutih was eliminated in the first round of the elections, coming third with 15.65% of the vote (9.54% of enrolled voters, although 12.5% was needed to progress to the second round), behind the UMP Mayor of Angoulême, Philippe Mottet (35.58% of the vote) and the dissident Socialist Martine Pinville (21.04%, 13% of enrolled voters). Boutih singled out the First Secretary François Hollande, accusing him of "throwing him to the wolves". In the second round, the Socialist Party supported Martine Pinville who was elected with 57.03% of the vote. He felt that he had been beaten by his own party and severely criticised its leaders "who formed a clique that disliked society as it was, who cannot see themselves as part of it and who cling to the melancholy of the 1970s. Where we come from it's Good Bye Lenin!" He rebuked them for having skimmed over the debate on diversity and not having taken it up seriously, like other subjects of real concern to French people: violence, work, the right to social emancipation, identity. 2012 Legislative elections Malek Boutih was chosen as a candidate in Essonne's 10th constituency following a vote of party members. He began his campaign using the words and images of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and in his campaign materials, despite Mélenchon supporting François Delapierre, the candidate for the