French left parties reach deal on alliance
PARIS: France’s left-of-centre parties on Wednesday reached an alliance deal for June parliamentary polls, aiming for a strong enough showing to hinder President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial reform plans.
After talks dragged through the night past a Tuesday deadline, the Socialist Party (PS) fell in line alongside the Greens and the Communist Party (PCF) behind the hard-left France Unbowed movement (LFI), who emerged as the dominant force on the left in April’s presidential election.
“We want to elect MPS in a majority of constituencies to stop Emmanuel Macron from pursuing his unjust and brutal policies and beat the farright,” the PS and LFI said in a joint statement.
The alliance must still be approved by the Socialists’ National Council on Thursday, with people close to the party leadership warning against viewing the vote as a foregone conclusion.
“No one on the let can win on their own,” PCF leader Fabien Roussel told France Inter radio, saying the new alliance needed to harness “the immense hope among the French public, among workers, among young people who are asking us to unite.”
A strong showing for LFI leader Jean-luc Melenchon saw him miss out on the April presidential runoff vote by a whisker, while the other let candidates were all but wiped out.
Ater Macron’s win, Melenchon immediately called on voters to “elect him prime minister” and hand the let a National Assembly majority to block the centrist’s reforms, including an unpopular plan to push the retirement age back from 62 to 65.
A forced “cohabitation” between Macron and Melenchon would be the first in two decades, but observers say that such a scenario remains unlikely.
Like the presidential election, the legislative polls in France’s 577 constituencies work in a tworound system -- meaning alliances off the bat offer the best chance of making it to the run-off.
A united let ahead of the parliamentary poll is “an unprecedented and important event,” political historian Gilles Candar said -- although he added that it remains to be seen whether it can secure power or remain coherent.
Major policy differences have kept negotiations among the let-wing parties tense throughout, with LFI’S proposal to unilaterally “disobey” the provisions of some European Union treaties a particular sticking point.