The New Popular Front is beset by ideological and personal division.
As France prepares for the first round of legislative elections this Sunday, the left is facing an internal battle. For only the second time in recent history, the French left has united, following the formation of the New Popular Front (NFP). The first instance of left-wing unity came in 2022, when the left rallied behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s populist movement, La France Insoumise (LFI). His near-success in the presidential election, gaining 22% of the vote, nearly brought him to the second round, while other left-wing candidates struggled to secure even 5% of the vote, which would have qualified them for campaign reimbursement.
However, the drive for unity has grown even more urgent since then, as the left’s internal divisions have become more evident. The parties of the left ran separate lists in the European elections, with dismal results. Raphael Glucksmann, who led a joint list of the Parti Socialiste (PS) and his own Place Publique movement, garnered just 13.8% of the vote, appealing to disillusioned Macron supporters and positioning himself as an anti-Mélenchon figure. Mélenchon’s LFI saw a slight increase in its share of the vote, reaching 9.9%, up from 2019, but still far from its presidential high. Meanwhile, the Greens (Les Ecologistes) secured 5.5%, and the French Communist Party (PCF) captured just 2%.
The question now is whether these fractured alliances can hold together long enough to effectively oppose the far-right National Rally in the upcoming legislative elections, or if their internal strife will weaken their ability to mount a unified defense.
