French left forms new alliance to challenge the far‑right
6:11 AM EDT, June 14, 2024
On Thursday, political parties associated with the French left reached an agreement ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. On Friday, they plan to present the program of this alliance, which has been named the "Popular Front." Its main creators are Socialists, Communists, Greens, and the far-left Unsubmissive France.
Negotiations lasted all day, and after concluding, the parties announced that they had agreed on a list of candidates for individual electoral districts and on the program that will be presented on Friday. In a statement, the parties assured that forming the left-wing alliance means that "the rise to power of the National Rally is no longer a foregone conclusion!"
In an interview with BFMTV, the head of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, stated that as part of the agreement, they managed to agree on "actions highly anticipated by the French," such as raising wages or indexing salaries and pensions.
It is not yet clear whom the left will propose for the position of Prime Minister. The head of Unsubmissive France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, announced that he is ready to take on this task but "is not imposing" his candidacy. According to the daily newspaper "Libération," they are looking for a politician whose presence would be less divisive for the left.
According to a recent poll, 28% of French people are ready to vote for the left-wing alliance, while 31% support the far-right National Rally. The centrist coalition centred around President Emmanuel Macron, with 18% support, remains far behind those two formations in the poll.
Reactivation of the Left-Wing Alliance
The current alliance is a reactivation of a previous left-wing alliance, NUPES, to which smaller parties have joined. The previous alliance, formed in May 2022, was plagued by divisions on domestic and international issues. In fall 2023, the largest of the left-wing parties—the Socialist Party—suspended its participation in NUPES due to differences with Unsubmissive France over the assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The name "Popular Front" refers to historical movements of the same name from the 1930s, initiated in Europe by, among others, French communists, in reaction to the rise to power in Germany by the NSDAP and the popularity of fascist ideas. In France, the Popular Front resulted in a left-wing coalition that held power from 1936-1937.
After a decisive victory by the far-right in France in the European Parliament elections, President Macron decided to dissolve parliament and call early elections for the National Assembly on June 30.
