The dashed hopes of France's left-wing alliance
A year has gone by, but left-wing candidate Raphaël Glucksmann remembers that evening as if it were yesterday. The exhaustion of a European election campaign, the satisfaction of having come out ahead of the other left-wing candidates, the heat inside La Bellevilloise – the event venue in Paris' 20 th arrondissement where he had planned to celebrate his good result –President Emmanuel Macron appearing on television, his announcement of the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale. Politics felt like a whirlwind on the evening of the June 9, 2024, European elections.
During the campaign, the Socialist, Green and Communist parties had focused on one idea: that a strong showing by Glucksmann and the Socialist list would rebalance their parties' power dynamics with the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party and force its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to accept the idea of a joint left-wing candidacy for the 2027 presidential election. Their tacit agreement, which they prepared far in advance, was upended by Macron's decision to dissolve the Assemblée. The hastily-organized snap elections that resulted forced all three parties to negotiate with LFI.
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