section_path: Campaign/Parties and coalitions/New Popular Front
section_name: New Popular Front
paragraph_text: New Popular Front
  
  Leftist politician François Ruffin called on all left-wing parties, including The Ecologists (LE), to form a " popular front " in order to avoid the "worst" outcome. Calls for unity were also shared by Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure, LE leader Marine Tondelier and French Communist Party (PCF) leader Fabien Roussel. A letter of 350 intellectuals (including Esther Duflo and Annie Ernaux) calling for a union of left-wing forces was published in Le Monde on 10 June. The New Popular Front was established on the same day, bringing together La France Insoumise (LFI), the PS, LE, the PCF, Place Publique, and various other political forces.
  
  On 13 June, LFI, the PS, LE, and the PCF reached an agreement on how to allocate 546 constituencies (including metropolitan France and French voters living abroad) between candidates of their choice, obtaining 229, 175, 92, and 50 constituencies, respectively, with these seats divided among themselves and allied forces. After outcry from other members of the alliance, Adrien Quatennens, previously convicted of domestic violence, withdrew his candidacy in Nord's 1st constituency on 16 June. Several incumbent LFI deputies critical of leader Mélenchon – Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, Hendrik Davi, and Danielle Simonnet – were not renominated in their constituencies under the banner of the New Popular Front, a decision critiqued both by their supporters and other party leaders within the alliance. Nevertheless, the four candidates maintained their candidacies against LFI opponents in their constituencies. Frédéric Mathieu, another Mélenchon critic within LFI, was also not renominated and opted not to run for re-election.
  
  The coalition unveiled its campaign platform on 14 June, which included overturning Macron's pension, unemployment, education, immigration, police, guaranteed minimum income, and universal national service reforms, as well as his cuts to funding for low-income housing and his merger of French nuclear safety organisations; lowering the retirement age to 60 in the longer-term; implementing price freezes on essential food, energy, and gas; raising the minimum wage to €1,600 per month (representing a 14% increase) and personalised housing assistance by 10%; moving towards a 32-hour work week for arduous or night shift jobs; conditioning government support for businesses on adherence to environmental, social, and anti-discriminatory regulations; reserving workers one-third of seats on boards of directors; increasing financial transaction taxes; banning bank financing for fossil fuels; nationalising control over water; reforming the generalised social contribution and inheritance taxes (capping the latter), as well as nearly tripling the number of income tax brackets from 5 to 14, to make them more progressive; re-instituting a solidarity tax on wealth "with a climate component"; enacting an exit tax on funds withdrawn from the country; charging a vehicle miles traveled tax on imports; guaranteeing a price floor for agricultural products; cancelling the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and any future free trade treaties; and forbidding the imports of agricultural products which do not meet domestic social and environmental standards.
  
  Other key NFP proposals included raising the image and salaries of public healthcare, education, justice, and government jobs; strengthening the industrial sector in key strategic areas; establishing the right to menstrual leave; prohibiting new major highway projects; outlawing intensive animal farming and the usage of all PFASs, neonicotinoids, and glyphosate; re-examining the Common Agricultural Policy; providing partial or full government financing for home insulation; creating free public water fountains, showers, and toilets; constructing 200,000 new public housing units per year; requiring mandatory rent control in high-rent areas; introducing proportional representation; removing article 49.3 from the constitution; outlawing the usage of blast balls by riot police; continuing to supply weapons to defend Ukraine; recognising the state of Palestine along with Israel; and demanding compliance with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order against Israel and ceasing support for Benjamin Netanyahu 's government.
  
  Opponents of the New Popular Front exploited uncertainty around who would be appointed prime minister in the event of the victory of the left, warning of the threat of Jean-Luc Mélenchon 's appointment given his refusal to recuse himself from the post; although on 22 June he said that he would be willing to be appointed prime minister, he claimed that he would "not impose" himself, even as numerous other potential appointees' names have circulated. Other figures on the left, while reluctant to address the question of who they believed should be prime minister, were taken aback by his comments: former president François Hollande, running in Corrèze's 1st constituency, opined that Mélenchon should "keep his mouth shut," former prime minister Lionel Jospin said that he was hearing "just about everywhere, and particularly from voters of the left" that "Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not the solution," Fabien Roussel released a statement saying that "Mélenchon's nomination for the post of prime minister, he himself is feeding into, has never been subject of an agreement between the forces of the Popular Front," Marine Tondelier, interviewed on LCI about Mélenchon's remarks, painted a generic portrait of the attributes of the ideal prime minister, ending with "and lastly, someone who unites." In a pre-election Elabe poll, only 16% of respondents – including just 49% of Mélenchon's 2022 voters, 24% of supporters of green parties and 17% of Socialist Party supporters – indicated they would be supportive of his appointment as prime minister, compared to 83% against the idea.
  
  Infighting broke out into the open on 24 June, starting with PCF leader Fabien Roussel 's comments in the morning, "I say this to Jean-Luc Mélenchon: no one can proclaim himself Prime Minister," to which he added that the New Popular Front needed "the most unifying personality" to lead them in the incoming National Assembly which, according to him, would clearly not be Mélenchon, comments also echoed by Faure. Those remarks were followed by Tondelier declaring that Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and that any prime minister would have to be chosen by consensus between the forces of the New Popular Front, but she was almost immediately rebuked by LFI national coordinator Manuel Bompard, who argued that "nobody can decide to exclude" Mélenchon. In back-to-back evening interviews on France 2, Place Publique co-founder and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, echoed Tondelier's comments in declaring definitively that "Mélenchon will not be prime minister," even as Mélenchon told Hollande to "shut up" in response to his comments the previous day, complained that the speculation was due to "jealousy" of others on the left, and lamented the fact that he had to cede 100 additional constituencies to PS candidates compared to the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) in 2022 because Glucksmann's list outpolled the LFI list in the preceding European elections. Interviewed on 26 June, Faure said Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and the latter chided his alliance partners' "petty" bickering and reaffirmed that any decisions about who would become prime minister would only be made after the elections, but did not close the door to the possibility of him seeking the post, saying "there are those who don't like me and others who do like me." On 1 July, LFI deputy Sophia Chikirou declared that "it will be either Mélenchon at Matignon, or another" LFI member if they constitute a majority of left-of-centre elected officials, owing to her feeling that other members of the alliance were indebted to them.
  
  Leftist politician François Ruffin called on all left-wing parties, including The Ecologists (LE), to form a " popular front " in order to avoid the "worst" outcome. Calls for unity were also shared by Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure, LE leader Marine Tondelier and French Communist Party (PCF) leader Fabien Roussel. A letter of 350 intellectuals (including Esther Duflo and Annie Ernaux) calling for a union of left-wing forces was published in Le Monde on 10 June. The New Popular Front was established on the same day, bringing together La France Insoumise (LFI), the PS, LE, the PCF, Place Publique, and various other political forces.
  
  On 13 June, LFI, the PS, LE, and the PCF reached an agreement on how to allocate 546 constituencies (including metropolitan France and French voters living abroad) between candidates of their choice, obtaining 229, 175, 92, and 50 constituencies, respectively, with these seats divided among themselves and allied forces. After outcry from other members of the alliance, Adrien Quatennens, previously convicted of domestic violence, withdrew his candidacy in Nord's 1st constituency on 16 June. Several incumbent LFI deputies critical of leader Mélenchon – Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, Hendrik Davi, and Danielle Simonnet – were not renominated in their constituencies under the banner of the New Popular Front, a decision critiqued both by their supporters and other party leaders within the alliance. Nevertheless, the four candidates maintained their candidacies against LFI opponents in their constituencies. Frédéric Mathieu, another Mélenchon critic within LFI, was also not renominated and opted not to run for re-election.
  
  The coalition unveiled its campaign platform on 14 June, which included overturning Macron's pension, unemployment, education, immigration, police, guaranteed minimum income, and universal national service reforms, as well as his cuts to funding for low-income housing and his merger of French nuclear safety organisations; lowering the retirement age to 60 in the longer-term; implementing price freezes on essential food, energy, and gas; raising the minimum wage to €1,600 per month (representing a 14% increase) and personalised housing assistance by 10%; moving towards a 32-hour work week for arduous or night shift jobs; conditioning government support for businesses on adherence to environmental, social, and anti-discriminatory regulations; reserving workers one-third of seats on boards of directors; increasing financial transaction taxes; banning bank financing for fossil fuels; nationalising control over water; reforming the generalised social contribution and inheritance taxes (capping the latter), as well as nearly tripling the number of income tax brackets from 5 to 14, to make them more progressive; re-instituting a solidarity tax on wealth "with a climate component"; enacting an exit tax on funds withdrawn from the country; charging a vehicle miles traveled tax on imports; guaranteeing a price floor for agricultural products; cancelling the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and any future free trade treaties; and forbidding the imports of agricultural products which do not meet domestic social and environmental standards.
  
  Other key NFP proposals included raising the image and salaries of public healthcare, education, justice, and government jobs; strengthening the industrial sector in key strategic areas; establishing the right to menstrual leave; prohibiting new major highway projects; outlawing intensive animal farming and the usage of all PFASs, neonicotinoids, and glyphosate; re-examining the Common Agricultural Policy; providing partial or full government financing for home insulation; creating free public water fountains, showers, and toilets; constructing 200,000 new public housing units per year; requiring mandatory rent control in high-rent areas; introducing proportional representation; removing article 49.3 from the constitution; outlawing the usage of blast balls by riot police; continuing to supply weapons to defend Ukraine; recognising the state of Palestine along with Israel; and demanding compliance with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order against Israel and ceasing support for Benjamin Netanyahu 's government.
  
  Opponents of the New Popular Front exploited uncertainty around who would be appointed prime minister in the event of the victory of the left, warning of the threat of Jean-Luc Mélenchon 's appointment given his refusal to recuse himself from the post; although on 22 June he said that he would be willing to be appointed prime minister, he claimed that he would "not impose" himself, even as numerous other potential appointees' names have circulated. Other figures on the left, while reluctant to address the question of who they believed should be prime minister, were taken aback by his comments: former president François Hollande, running in Corrèze's 1st constituency, opined that Mélenchon should "keep his mouth shut," former prime minister Lionel Jospin said that he was hearing "just about everywhere, and particularly from voters of the left" that "Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not the solution," Fabien Roussel released a statement saying that "Mélenchon's nomination for the post of prime minister, he himself is feeding into, has never been subject of an agreement between the forces of the Popular Front," Marine Tondelier, interviewed on LCI about Mélenchon's remarks, painted a generic portrait of the attributes of the ideal prime minister, ending with "and lastly, someone who unites." In a pre-election Elabe poll, only 16% of respondents – including just 49% of Mélenchon's 2022 voters, 24% of supporters of green parties and 17% of Socialist Party supporters – indicated they would be supportive of his appointment as prime minister, compared to 83% against the idea.
  
  Infighting broke out into the open on 24 June, starting with PCF leader Fabien Roussel 's comments in the morning, "I say this to Jean-Luc Mélenchon: no one can proclaim himself Prime Minister," to which he added that the New Popular Front needed "the most unifying personality" to lead them in the incoming National Assembly which, according to him, would clearly not be Mélenchon, comments also echoed by Faure. Those remarks were followed by Tondelier declaring that Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and that any prime minister would have to be chosen by consensus between the forces of the New Popular Front, but she was almost immediately rebuked by LFI national coordinator Manuel Bompard, who argued that "nobody can decide to exclude" Mélenchon. In back-to-back evening interviews on France 2, Place Publique co-founder and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, echoed Tondelier's comments in declaring definitively that "Mélenchon will not be prime minister," even as Mélenchon told Hollande to "shut up" in response to his comments the previous day, complained that the speculation was due to "jealousy" of others on the left, and lamented the fact that he had to cede 100 additional constituencies to PS candidates compared to the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) in 2022 because Glucksmann's list outpolled the LFI list in the preceding European elections. Interviewed on 26 June, Faure said Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and the latter chided his alliance partners' "petty" bickering and reaffirmed that any decisions about who would become prime minister would only be made after the elections, but did not close the door to the possibility of him seeking the post, saying "there are those who don't like me and others who do like me." On 1 July, LFI deputy Sophia Chikirou declared that "it will be either Mélenchon at Matignon, or another" LFI member if they constitute a majority of left-of-centre elected officials, owing to her feeling that other members of the alliance were indebted to them.
  
  Leftist politician François Ruffin called on all left-wing parties, including The Ecologists (LE), to form a " popular front " in order to avoid the "worst" outcome. Calls for unity were also shared by Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure, LE leader Marine Tondelier and French Communist Party (PCF) leader Fabien Roussel. A letter of 350 intellectuals (including Esther Duflo and Annie Ernaux) calling for a union of left-wing forces was published in Le Monde on 10 June. The New Popular Front was established on the same day, bringing together La France Insoumise (LFI), the PS, LE, the PCF, Place Publique, and various other political forces.
  
  On 13 June, LFI, the PS, LE, and the PCF reached an agreement on how to allocate 546 constituencies (including metropolitan France and French voters living abroad) between candidates of their choice, obtaining 229, 175, 92, and 50 constituencies, respectively, with these seats divided among themselves and allied forces. After outcry from other members of the alliance, Adrien Quatennens, previously convicted of domestic violence, withdrew his candidacy in Nord's 1st constituency on 16 June. Several incumbent LFI deputies critical of leader Mélenchon – Alexis Corbière, Raquel Garrido, Hendrik Davi, and Danielle Simonnet – were not renominated in their constituencies under the banner of the New Popular Front, a decision critiqued both by their supporters and other party leaders within the alliance. Nevertheless, the four candidates maintained their candidacies against LFI opponents in their constituencies. Frédéric Mathieu, another Mélenchon critic within LFI, was also not renominated and opted not to run for re-election.
  
  The coalition unveiled its campaign platform on 14 June, which included overturning Macron's pension, unemployment, education, immigration, police, guaranteed minimum income, and universal national service reforms, as well as his cuts to funding for low-income housing and his merger of French nuclear safety organisations; lowering the retirement age to 60 in the longer-term; implementing price freezes on essential food, energy, and gas; raising the minimum wage to €1,600 per month (representing a 14% increase) and personalised housing assistance by 10%; moving towards a 32-hour work week for arduous or night shift jobs; conditioning government support for businesses on adherence to environmental, social, and anti-discriminatory regulations; reserving workers one-third of seats on boards of directors; increasing financial transaction taxes; banning bank financing for fossil fuels; nationalising control over water; reforming the generalised social contribution and inheritance taxes (capping the latter), as well as nearly tripling the number of income tax brackets from 5 to 14, to make them more progressive; re-instituting a solidarity tax on wealth "with a climate component"; enacting an exit tax on funds withdrawn from the country; charging a vehicle miles traveled tax on imports; guaranteeing a price floor for agricultural products; cancelling the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and any future free trade treaties; and forbidding the imports of agricultural products which do not meet domestic social and environmental standards.
  
  Other key NFP proposals included raising the image and salaries of public healthcare, education, justice, and government jobs; strengthening the industrial sector in key strategic areas; establishing the right to menstrual leave; prohibiting new major highway projects; outlawing intensive animal farming and the usage of all PFASs, neonicotinoids, and glyphosate; re-examining the Common Agricultural Policy; providing partial or full government financing for home insulation; creating free public water fountains, showers, and toilets; constructing 200,000 new public housing units per year; requiring mandatory rent control in high-rent areas; introducing proportional representation; removing article 49.3 from the constitution; outlawing the usage of blast balls by riot police; continuing to supply weapons to defend Ukraine; recognising the state of Palestine along with Israel; and demanding compliance with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order against Israel and ceasing support for Benjamin Netanyahu 's government.
  
  Opponents of the New Popular Front exploited uncertainty around who would be appointed prime minister in the event of the victory of the left, warning of the threat of Jean-Luc Mélenchon 's appointment given his refusal to recuse himself from the post; although on 22 June he said that he would be willing to be appointed prime minister, he claimed that he would "not impose" himself, even as numerous other potential appointees' names have circulated. Other figures on the left, while reluctant to address the question of who they believed should be prime minister, were taken aback by his comments: former president François Hollande, running in Corrèze's 1st constituency, opined that Mélenchon should "keep his mouth shut," former prime minister Lionel Jospin said that he was hearing "just about everywhere, and particularly from voters of the left" that "Jean-Luc Mélenchon is not the solution," Fabien Roussel released a statement saying that "Mélenchon's nomination for the post of prime minister, he himself is feeding into, has never been subject of an agreement between the forces of the Popular Front," Marine Tondelier, interviewed on LCI about Mélenchon's remarks, painted a generic portrait of the attributes of the ideal prime minister, ending with "and lastly, someone who unites." In a pre-election Elabe poll, only 16% of respondents – including just 49% of Mélenchon's 2022 voters, 24% of supporters of green parties and 17% of Socialist Party supporters – indicated they would be supportive of his appointment as prime minister, compared to 83% against the idea.
  
  Infighting broke out into the open on 24 June, starting with PCF leader Fabien Roussel 's comments in the morning, "I say this to Jean-Luc Mélenchon: no one can proclaim himself Prime Minister," to which he added that the New Popular Front needed "the most unifying personality" to lead them in the incoming National Assembly which, according to him, would clearly not be Mélenchon, comments also echoed by Faure. Those remarks were followed by Tondelier declaring that Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and that any prime minister would have to be chosen by consensus between the forces of the New Popular Front, but she was almost immediately rebuked by LFI national coordinator Manuel Bompard, who argued that "nobody can decide to exclude" Mélenchon. In back-to-back evening interviews on France 2, Place Publique co-founder and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, echoed Tondelier's comments in declaring definitively that "Mélenchon will not be prime minister," even as Mélenchon told Hollande to "shut up" in response to his comments the previous day, complained that the speculation was due to "jealousy" of others on the left, and lamented the fact that he had to cede 100 additional constituencies to PS candidates compared to the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) in 2022 because Glucksmann's list outpolled the LFI list in the preceding European elections. Interviewed on 26 June, Faure said Mélenchon would not be prime minister, and the latter chided his alliance partners' "petty" bickering and reaffirmed that any decisions about who would become prime minister would only be made after the elections, but did not close the door to the possibility of him seeking the post, saying "there are those who don't like me and others who do like me." On 1 July, LFI deputy Sophia Chikirou declared that "it will be either Mélenchon at Matignon, or another" LFI member if they constitute a majority of left-of-centre elected officials, owing to her feeling that other members of the alliance were indebted to them.