It will be a “new popular front”. The left agreed this Monday evening for a new union with a view to the legislative elections. Socialists, communists, ecologists and rebels will present a single candidate in each constituency.
The day after the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, the time has come for political negotiations. On the left, ecologists, France Insoumise, the French Communist Party, the Socialist Party as well as Place publique and Génération⸱s are calling this Monday, June 10, for the constitution of a “new popular front bringing together in an unprecedented form all the forces of left humanists, unions, associations and citizens”. After hours of discussion at EELV headquarters, an agreement in principle was concluded by the left-wing parties with a view to early legislative elections.
“We want to carry out a program of social and ecological ruptures to build an alternative to Emmanuel Macron and combat the racist project of the far right,” details a joint press release published this Monday evening. The parties undertake to support single candidates “from the first round” in each constituency for the upcoming election. “They will carry a breaking program detailing the measures to be taken in the first 100 days of the government of the new popular front,” explains the press release. With the sole objective: “to govern to respond to democratic, ecological, social and peace emergencies”.
A new Nupes?
Several left-wing figures, such as Raphaël Glucksmann, refused to put the Nupes back in place during the day. Guest of 8 p.m. on France 2, the candidate of PS-Place Publique in the European elections, who received nearly 14% of the votes in France, spoke about the conditions for a union of the left. “We are not going to remake the Nupes, there has been a reversal of the balance of power since,” he commented before listing several conditions for a union. “Unwavering support for European construction, (and) Ukraine resistance”, “a repeal of the pension reform, unemployment insurance and the immigration law”, as well as “an acceleration of the ecological transition and a rejection of the brutalization of political life.” If they are not met, “we don’t do it,” he assured.
His proposals were undoubtedly heard. LThe “new popular front” has all the features of a Nupes 2. With the same parties and the same program? Many questions remain unanswered: the differences over the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the degree of involvement of Jean-Luc Mélenchon… The national secretary of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, assured that the principle of the alliance is formalized but all the details are still to be resolved.