France’s left has a Jean-Luc Melenchon problem.
The towering firebrand of France’s hard-left, Melenchon’s France Unbowed (LFI) party won the most seats of the leftist alliance that scored a shock victory over the far right in Sunday’s snap legislative election.
His party’s top position gives him a credible claim to be France’s next prime minister, but his hopes of dragging France sharply leftward appear dead after mainstream party chiefs quickly ruled out forming a coalition with a tax-and-spend, pro-Gaza figure who many in France view as an anti-Semitic radical.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The New Popular Front (NFP) leftist alliance could seek to cobble together an unwieldy coalition without him, or try to form a minority government by reaching individual deals on legislation with rivals, but neither would be easy.
Melenchon, who denies accusations of anti-Semitism, “is the most divisive figure within the NFP,” said Socialist leader Olivier Faure, referring to the New Popular Front (NFP) leftist alliance.
Other members of the NFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, were even more frank.
“Melenchon is a problem,” a Green Party lawmaker said.
Melenchon, 72, has been a fixture of the French left for decades, holding ministerial posts in past governments when he was a Socialist party member. He ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Although not a lawmaker himself, he holds a tight grip on the LFI. An admirer of Latin American revolutionary leaders, he advocates price controls, a huge increase in the minimum wage and a reinstatement of the wealth tax.
His reputation took a beating in 2018 when he was caught on camera shouting “I am the Republic!” to anti-graft investigators searching his party headquarters
The question of how to deal with Melenchon is just one of the headaches facing France’s new lawmakers as they seek to chart a path forward for a country unaccustomed to the chaotic coalition governments often seen in Germany and the Netherlands.
Leaders of the component parties of the NFP have been meeting to discuss who should replace French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who tendered his resignation to Macron on Monday, but is expected to stay on in a caretaker capacity.
A source at the Communist Party, one of the NFP’s smaller members, said discussions were also centered on what strategy the alliance should adopt. The strong showing of the Socialists within the NFP alliance has given them more leverage than before.
Melenchon was the first political leader to react to Sunday’s legislative results, in what appeared an early pitch for the prime ministership. He said the result was a damning indictment of Macron and the far right.
“The president must invite the New Popular Front to govern,” he said.
Melenchon’s mainstream opponents were quick to say they would not do business with him.
Former French prime minister Edouard Philippe, seen as a possible Macron successor in 2027, said any potential coalition government “cannot be the work of a single man.”
“The credibility of our country could be damaged by this and the centrist political forces must without compromise make an agreement to stabilize politics, but without France Unbowed and the RN,” he said.
Macron’s second-placed bloc, as well as representatives of the center-right Republicans, have also appeared to rule out a coalition with Melenchon.
Green party leader Marine Tondelier, a breakout star of the campaign who is also a potential prime ministerial contender, was more circumspect. She told France Inter radio the post could be filled by someone from LFI, the Greens or the Socialists.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS