Former French President François Hollande has announced his intention to stand in early legislative elections in support of the far-left-led New Popular Front coalition.
Seven years after leaving a presidency beset by Islamic terrorism and economic hardship, President François Hollande is back at the forefront of French politics, running again for office in the National Assembly.
Hollande, a longtime member of the Socialist party, was appointed by the left-wing party to represent the so-called New Popular Front in the Corrèze constituency. Figaro Reports.
“Exceptional circumstances have forced me to take an exceptional decision,” Hollande said on Saturday, adding: “I took this decision because I felt the situation was serious. The danger that the far right poses has now been demonstrated. How can we remain indifferent?”
The far-left has been deeply divided over the past few months, particularly in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel and the rise of anti-Semitism in France, but this week the Socialists, Greens and French Communist Party announced an alliance with Radical leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left party, Remain France (LFI).
The centrist faction of the New Popular Front said the move to join forces with Mélenchon – France’s leading left-wing politician who has often been compared to Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and accused of anti-Semitism and collusion with Islamic extremism – was necessary to counter the rise of Marine Le Pen’s populist right-wing Rally National, which is expected to win general elections called by President Emmanuel Macron after its party was heavily defeated by Le Pen in European elections earlier this month.
French Election Chaos:https://t.co/8SnG8LoRx9 pic.twitter.com/wrFepLOLOu
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The New Popular Front, named after the alliance of left-wing French parties led by Socialist Prime Minister Leon Blum in 1936, has the support of left-wing leaders such as former President Hollande, but many on the left are critical of the new alliance.
Manuel Valls, a former Socialist prime minister who served as President François Hollande’s number two from 2014 to 2016, described the collaboration with LFI as a “disastrous electoral agreement” and a “moral mistake.”
“The fact that social democratic and environmentalist parties are making a pact with an insubordinate France, known to everyone for its anti-Semitic rhetoric, pro-Hamas and long-standing pro-Putin stance, infuriates me. The mobilization of the left in the face of the crisis of the far-right and the use of trite historical concepts like the Popular Front (not everyone can be Leon Blum) in no way justifies crossing this line,” Valls said. Said Le Point.
“There is no reason to make a pact with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his friends. Everyone can see the political and ethical gulf that separates them from other parties on the left. Mélenchon considered the rise of anti-Semitism in France a ‘residual’. This should disqualify him forever… It’s a sad day for the left.”
Hollande’s decision to join the far-left coalition came shortly after key critics of Mélenchon were “expelled” from the various left-wing parties that make up the New Popular Front on Friday.
Regarding the fierce political maneuvering, the center-left Le Monde newspaper I have written“This generated opposition from the start. The move, condemned by Mélenchon’s partners, is a further sign of the authoritarian and sectarian practices that are rampant within LFI. This act of settling was the worst possible message to send at the start of this new coalition.”
More than 60% of Muslims support France’s far-left party in European Parliament electionshttps://t.co/aWLNCE12Ml
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