Left-wing alliance comes out on top in an unprecedented political landscape – Technologist

Shouts of joy, but every man for himself. Up until 8pm on Sunday, July 7, no one on the left was putting the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) – hastily built up after the dissolution decided by Emmanuel Macron – in the lead in the second round of the legislative elections. So when the first estimates came in on the TV screens set up for the occasion at La Bellevilloise, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, where the Socialists (PS) election evening was being held, it was time for outpourings of joy. “It’s the end of Jupiter and Macronie,” enthused European deputy Christophe Clergeau.

At the same time, at La Rotonde Stalingrad, in the 19th arrondissement with LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was the first on the left to speak. He hailed a “magnificent surge of mobilization.” “Our people have clearly rejected the worst-case solution,” he boasted. In front of the Bassin de la Villette, the founder of La France Insoumise (LFI) almost walked on water, holding the line against the outgoing government: in front of this prime place, he said, “the president of the Republic must bow out, the prime minister must go.” And the left must govern. As a sign that reconciliation has not yet been sealed within the alliance, each party celebrated the results separately on Sunday evening, and no joint speeches had been scheduled, unlike in the first round.

In reality, although this result is unexpected, the road to a Nouveau Front Populaire government is still long: the alliance won 182 deputy seats, compared with 168 for Ensemble and 143 for the RN (including LR-RN). It remains far from an absolute majority, 289 out of 577 deputies. How could the NFP govern when it will have a relative majority, even weaker than the Macronist coalition, which had 250 MPs? After the demonstrations of joy, particularly audible in the major cities from Marseille to Paris – so great was the relief at not seeing the RN come to power – now comes the time for calculations. For the moment, Emmanuel Macron has not announced his intention to appoint a prime minister from the ranks of the NFP. And some of the members of the presidential coalition, led by Edouard Philippe, are still trying to split it up, distinguishing between those who are “acceptable” – The Greens, the PS – and those with whom any coalition remains impossible, LFI.

Mélenchon rejects ‘combinations’

On Sunday evening, these attempts at division were met with a rather united, though not entirely unanimous, Nouveau Front Populaire. The leaders of the left-wing parties had at least agreed on one principle: no alliance with the presidential camp. “No subterfuge, no arrangement would be acceptable,” continued the founder of LFI, who said he wanted to “refuse combinations.” The same slogan was repeated at La Bellevilloise by the first secretary of the French Socialist Party, Olivier Faure. “We will not lend ourselves to a coalition of opposites that would betray the vote of the French people,” he hammered home to activists, assuring them that he had “only one compass,” that of the “program of the Nouveau Front Populaire.” Just a few kilometers and minutes away, LFI and the Socialists announced among the first measures to be taken would be the repeal of the pension reform, made possible, according to them, by a simple decree.

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