Skip to main content
NEU job advert
Massive participation is essential for Nupes to win in the second round of the legislatives
Next Sunday we will know if France will take a new political direction with Jean-Luc Melenchon as prime minister, writes MARY ADOSSIDES
A banner reading "vote nupes" featuring French far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is pictured in Marseille, southern France, Friday, June 10, 2022.

IT IS with trepidation that the French left is waiting for the outcome of the second round of the legislative elections next Sunday, June 19.

Nupes, the new left coalition which stands for Nouvelle Union Populaire Ecologique et Sociale (New Social and Ecological People’s Union) is challenging President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc Ensemble! (Together). 

Following his 22 per cent score in April’s presidential contest, Jean-Luc Melenchon’s score rose in this first round of the legislatives, giving him a slight lead of 26.6 per cent over Macron’s 25.20 per cent.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
NOT BUDGING AN INCH: A rally of the ‘Block Everything’ movement in Strasbourg, eastern France on Wednesday, the placard that reads: ‘Let's tax the rich,’ and the guillotine adds a telling historic context
Features / 13 September 2025
13 September 2025

The desperate French president keeps running up the same political cul-de-sac. DENNIS BROE offers an explanation

French far-right leader and presidential candidate Jean-Mari
World / 7 January 2025
7 January 2025
BY POPULAR DEMAND: Michel Barnier leaves
Features / 6 December 2024
6 December 2024
As heavy industry flees and public-sector strikes paralyse the nation, the French leader’s increasingly desperate attempts to rule without a majority reveal the deep crisis at the heart of European liberal democracy, writes KEVIN OVENDEN