President Emmanuel Macron Night declare a snap election At the French National Assembly last month, two words began to circulate widely on the internet and the media: Popular Front.
That’s a reference to the left-wing alliance formed in the 1930s to counter rising fascism in Europe and at home. Now, a group of France’s main left-wing parties have banded together to counter what they see as a new danger: Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which is closer than ever to taking power.
That left-wing coalition calls itself the New Popular Front.
“For the first time since the Vichy regime, the far right could be dominant again in France,” Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure recently said. speak to large crowdsA reference to the French government during World War II collaborating with the Nazi occupation forces.
Mr Macron decided to push ahead with elections to the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after last month’s humiliating defeat to Ms Le Pen’s party in European parliamentary elections.
The group of left-wing parties, which had disintegrated only months earlier over policy and personal disagreements, responded by regrouping. Despite its hasty start, the New Popular Front came second in the first round of voting. The party is just five percentage points behind the National Congress and its allies, while Mr Macron’s centrist Renaissance Party and its allies are in third place.
Since then, the New Popular Front has made it harder for the far right to take over. It has built what is known in France as a “Republican front” or “dam,” forcing its candidates from three-way races to withdraw in order to reduce the National Party’s chances of winning Sunday’s runoff. According to French media, more than 130 of its candidates have withdrawn, along with about 80 from Mr Macron’s own party.
Latest survey predicts that this strategy could work. The National Rally Party is still well placed to win the most seats in the 577-seat parliament, but may now fall short of the 289 seats needed to win an absolute majority.
“Historically, when there is a threat from the far right, the left always unites,” said Rémi Lefebvre, a professor of political science at the University of Lille. “It’s a reflex from the 1930s.”
But many in France are also fearful of left-wing elements, especially since the largest party in the coalition, France Unbowed, is known for its inflammatory far-left politics. Some members have also been accused of anti-Semitism, particularly Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a longtime leftist leader and founder of the France Unbowed movement, is aggressive and divisive.
“They want to be a bulwark against nationwide protest. But beyond that, what happens?” said Nicole Bacharan, a political scientist who teaches at Sciences Po University in Paris. “They are asking people to take a big leap into the unknown.”
How the left fell apart and came together again?
There was a period of domestic power under the leadership of a strong Socialist party,The French left has in recent years shrunk into an unstable coalition. between four parties: communists, socialists, greens and France Undefeated. The first coalition was formed in 2022 and was dominated by Mr Mélenchon’s France Undefeated.
According to other members of the group, Mr Mélenchon, a three-time presidential candidate and former Trotskyist, has been relegated to a non-leadership role in the new coalition.
Since the October 7 attack on Israel, Mr. Mélenchon has not hesitated to express his support for the Palestinians, refusing to call Hamas a terrorist organization and strongly condemning Israel’s military operation in Gaza as “genocide.” He labeled A large protest against anti-Semitism, attended by two former French presidentsa meeting of “friends who unconditionally supported the massacre.”
At a time when attacks and threats against Jews in France were on the rise, Mr Mélenchon has been repeatedly accused of fanning the flames of widespread anti-Semitism..
The alliance, already rife with internal strife, has now fallen apart.
The knitting took place over four frantic days and nights. “We didn’t sleep,” said Pierre Jouvet, the Socialist Party’s general secretary and one of the main negotiators. “It was like what sailors do on long ocean voyages, we take a half-hour or 40-minute nap, and we drink a lot of coffee.”
While fear of the far right plays a role in the shotgun political marriage, so does pragmatism. Given the trajectory of the far right, if the left does not act as a unit, it is likely to lose many seats, said Frédéric Sawicki, a professor of political science at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris.
On Thursday, they laid out a solid platform, filled with promises and clear compromises for a group with fundamental disagreements on everything from involvement in wars in Ukraine and Gaza to nuclear energy.
The new popular front is in motion. on a platform that would raise France’s monthly minimum wage, lower the legal retirement age to 60 and freeze prices on basic necessities including food, energy and gasInstead of drastically cutting immigration as the far right has promised, the coalition has pledged to make the asylum process more generous and smoother.
The group will also push for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, and “immediate recognition” of a Palestinian state. It also said it would develop government plans to combat both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Can the new popular front win?
A victory for the New Popular Front, if possible, is now unlikely as many of its candidates have dropped out.
However, the left could still win enough votes to gain influence, especially if a coalition government is formed.
The group’s hope is not just to defeat the far right, but to reclaim some of the legacy of the original Popular Front, a true benchmark for the left in France. It is the high point for many, in terms of what they can do, but also their courage in standing up to fascism.
The Popular Front initially formed a government under Léon Blum, who became the country’s first socialist and Jewish prime minister in 1936. One day after taking office, he introduced a series of laws that dramatically changed the lives of French workers, including two weeks of paid annual leave and a 40-hour work week.
The government lasted only two years. In 1943, under the collaborationist Vichy government, Mr. Blum was sent to Buchenwald, where he lived in a house outside the concentration camp.
“The Popular Front government did not last long,” said Jean Vigreux, a history professor at the University of Burgundy in Dijon who has written two books about the Popular Front, “but it changed lives.”
Mr Macron, who long hated the far left before it defeated his party in last Sunday’s vote, did not hesitate to react to the formation of the New Popular Front, saying Mr Blum “must be turning over in his grave”.
He branded the Front as “far left”, as it included France Unbowed, and said the party was as dangerous to the French republic as the far right. Many voters agreed. In The two most recent annual polls of French peopleconducted annually by Ipsos-Sopra Steria, 57 percent of people consider the party a “danger to democracy” — more than the National Congress Party.
The New Popular Front has refused to name a leader who would become prime minister if it wins a majority or forms part of a coalition government. But several leaders in the coalition have strongly reiterated that it will not be Mr Mélenchon. However, he has refused to rule himself out, repeatedly stating that he is “capable” of taking the job.
Will the nationwide protest be successful?
The National Congress Party is still expected to win the most seats, but resistance could keep it from achieving the absolute majority it desires.
It could also confuse the public after months of criticism between leftists and centrists, causing some voters to stay away.
“It’s going to be hard for voters to understand that they need to vote for people who just a few days ago were described as hateful,” said Mr. Lefebvre, the political science professor.
Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, has criticised the New Popular Front, saying its efforts to prevent the right from taking power are undemocratic. “Do you believe that it is glorifying politics, doing everything to stop a movement that I lead, that represents millions of French people?” he said in a television interview this week.
New Popular Front leaders reject that assertion.
“It is not a rejection of democracy. It is a strong desire to prevent the emergence of the far right in France,” Mr. Jouvet said, “because we consider the far right and Jordan Bardella to be a danger for France.”
However, if successful, some analysts fear the “Republican front” will exacerbate the sense of abandonment that many far-right supporters describe as they feel Mr Macron’s government is not listening to their concerns.
“That’s the perverse effect of this,” said Ms. Bacharan, the political scientist. “Right-wing voters hear, ‘Power must stay away from us.’”
Segolène Le Stradic Contributing report from Paris
