France gears up for new battle between Macron and Mélenchon

Paris, June 17 (FN Agency) The run-off votes for more than 570 parliamentary seats in the French parliament due on Sunday, will see a close fight between President Emmanuel Macron and the Green-Left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, BBC reported on Monday. “Nothing would be worse than losing ourselves in blockages, and adding disorder in France to global disorder,” Mr Macron said this week. During last Sunday’s referendum, a new green-left alliance finished neck and neck with Macron’s allies in the first round of voting. If they manage to continue their winning streak this weekend also, they could deny the president Macron a majority in parliament, making it harder for his government to act. The new alliance, called Nupes (New Ecological and Social Popular Union) brings together Socialists, Communists and Greens under the leadership of France’s far-left leader Mélenchon.

They’re focusing hard on climate change and social solidarity, though many of their members openly admit to big policy differences on other issues. According to analysts the alliance is highly unlikely to win a majority by themselves, but Nupes candidate in Toulouse, François Piquemal, insisted that with more than 400 candidates running in the second round, nothing was impossible. “Mathematically it’s possible,” he said. “And in politics, from the moment things are mathematically possible, we can achieve them. Three months ago people thought it was impossible for all the components of the left to come together behind a common programme. That is what’s happening today.” Nupes is predicted to win between 150-200 seat, and some government candidates have already pointed to the “trouble” and disruption caused by Mélenchon’s 17 MPs in the last parliament. The race between these two candidates here in Toulouse is a stark reminder of how well Nupes is doing in this election. Five years ago it was Macron’s allies who led the first round of voting in most of the region’s constituencies; now Mélenchon’s candidates are leading in 80 per cent of them.