France’s former Socialist President Francois Hollande said on Saturday he intends to run again in parliamentary elections, the latest political development following his successor Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call surprise parliamentary elections.
The victory of the French far right in the European elections and President Macron’s dissolution of Parliament rapidly reshaped the landscape of French politics.
A new left-wing coalition has emerged, the leader of a major right-wing party has announced he is ready to support a coalition with the far right, and infighting has erupted within political families.
Police estimated that 250,000 people demonstrated across France on Saturday in protest against the possibility of the far-right taking power.
But the latest opinion polls still show the far right comfortably ahead.
Hollande, who served as France’s president from 2012 to 2017, left office at a record low of popularity. He was hated by parts of the far left and even the Socialist party leadership viewed him with suspicion.
He said he would run as a member of parliament for the southwestern Corrèze department for the New Popular Front, a left-wing grouping formed for the election that includes the Socialist Party, the far-left, the Greens and the Communists.
“It is an exceptional decision for exceptional circumstances,” Hollande told reporters in the department’s capital, Tulle, explaining the sudden return.
His recent numerous media appearances have sparked speculation that he may be considering a presidential run, but Trump said, “I’m not looking for anything for myself.”
“I just want to be helpful.”
President Hollande has already backed the new broad-based left-wing coalition, saying: “We must do everything to ensure that the far right does not come to power in France.”
Officially, the Socialist party reacted coolly to the move, with its election chairman Pierre Jouvet simply saying he would “take note of this candidacy.”
But a senior party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were “devastated” by the news, but acknowledged: “We said we want the broadest possible left side.”
Macron called the elections after his far-right National Rally (RN) party won more than double the votes in last week’s European Parliament elections compared with his own centre-right ruling party.
The first round is scheduled for June 30th and the second round for July 7th.
Demonstrators across France on Saturday rallied against the possible victory of the far-right and the possibility that RN leader Jordan Bardella, 28, would become prime minister.
“I thought it was never possible for the far right to come to power, but now it can happen,” said Florence David, 60, who took part in the Paris protest.
The new left-wing coalition faced its first crisis on Saturday when several leading lawmakers from the far-left party Unfurl France (LFI) were not invited to run again.
Many had at one point openly opposed LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and they and their supporters within the New Alliance denounced the “purge”.
In an interview with 20 Minutes, Mélenchon said no one is guaranteed a seat for life, adding that “political consistency and loyalty within the First Left Party are also necessary conditions for governing.”
But there was also outrage that Adrian Quattenen, a close aide to Mélenchon, was on the shortlist despite being convicted of domestic violence in 2022.
Another former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, also weighed in on the dispute over the decision of Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Republican Party, to seek an electoral pact with the RN.
Ciotti’s actions sparked anger within the party and led the leadership to move to sack him, but a Paris court blocked this on Friday.
Sarkozy told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that Prime Minister Ciotti should have discussed a coalition government with party leaders and put it to a vote by party members.
“The issue could then have been resolved calmly and clearly,” he said.
But he questioned the wisdom of such an alliance, saying Republicans would be junior partners.
Moreover, he said, incoming Prime Minister Bardella “has never been in a position to control anything.”
The French Football Federation on Saturday called on everyone to respect the federation’s “neutrality”, hours after French soccer star Marcus Thuram called on voters to stop the far-right from taking power.
Two days before the opening match of the European Championships in Germany, the federation called on everyone to “avoid any form of pressure or politicisation of the French team”.
