Four days after Emmanuel Macron called for early elections following poor results in the European Parliament, A group of parties joined together and formed the New Popular Fronta coalition aimed at resurrecting the Popular Front that came to power in 1936 to curb the far right, and which enacted social policies including 40-hour workweeks and paid leave for workers.
The broad – and potentially unruly – alliance was led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon,three-time presidential candidate (in 2012, 2017 and 2022, improving the results of each election compared to the previous one) and leader of the France Insoumise party. He has been joined by the Socialists, the Communists, the Greens, and the Place Publique, headed by the popular Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Raphaël Glucksmann.
And the strategy seems to have worked. In the first round of voting, the New Popular Front came second behind the far-right National Rally (RN) and ahead of the current majority party of President Emmanuel Macron. And now he has hit the jackpot.
Mélenchon, 72, has been on the French political scene for decades, honing his lyrical delivery while uncompromisingly embracing leftist ideas. In the past, when he was a member of the Socialist Party, He held ministerial positions in previous governments.
According to his own biography, Mélenchon Born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1951and holds a degree in Philosophy and Modern Letters. As a socialist activist, he became France’s youngest senator in 1986. He is also the author of 19 books, including “The Age of the People,” which sets out his theory of citizen revolution, his website says.
Since the 2017 election, the main catalyst for Mélenchon’s rapid rise appears to have been his performances in the presidential debates, where he stood out for his combination of wit, easy conversation and his simple way of speaking.
Even those who do not agree with your views, They like to see their performance in the debates.
Indeed, Mélenchon He is one of the most divisive figures in French politics.who both excites and horrifies voters with his unbridled tax and spending proposals, class-war rhetoric and controversial foreign policy positions, especially on Gaza, is accused by critics of anti-Semitism, which he denies.
Until 2012, when the populist wave had not yet hit Europe, Mélenchon was a marginal candidate, but the landscape has changed radically since then. That is why, even in a different context, the candidate has become popular among younger votershas stood out on social media and has a famous YouTube channel.
He is a recycled “Old Rebellious Man”, from senator and minister of the Socialist Party, to angry rebel of the left of the left, to now represent “the people.” Post-Trump neopopulism of an exalted tribune, with unparalleled oratory, admirer of Hugo Chávez, Cristina Kirchner and the Bolivarian revolution.
Mélenchon was a socialist and Trotskyist senator like former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. A true intellectual, who makes conversation and poetry a pleasure in life. With an Andalusian grandmother and perfect Spanish, this former Minister of Education for higher education discovered Chavista and Kirchnerist neo-populism and fell in love with it. Nostalgia for May 68? Why not? He was inspired by the Argentine Ernesto Laclau and his ideological guide his wife, the Belgian political scientist and writer, Chantal Mouffe.
Mélenchon is anti-European but different from Le Pen. He proposes to withdraw from the European treaties in order to reform them. To achieve this, he promises a tough tour de force with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He plans to withdraw France from NATO and with his rival Marine Le Pen they have one thing in common: their deep admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.