France’s Divided Left Is Struggling to Challenge the Macron–Le Pen Duopoly
Emmanuel Macron's first term has seen him wage war on yellow vest protesters, trade unions, and France's Muslims, undermining his image as a shiny progressive. Yet as the 2022 presidential election draws closer, the broad left is divided — and faces a tough challenge to avoid another runoff between Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen.
Election posters of current French president Emmanuel Macron (L) and far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen during the second round of the presidential vote on May 7, 2017. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Will 2021 be a year full of twists and surprises? Many on the Left are hoping for a small miracle, given the desperate political landscape emerging ahead of the presidential election. “We all have the distinct feeling that the New Year is going to see disastrous polls that will cause everyone’s morale to plummet,” a former Socialist Party (PS) MP predicted grimly just before Christmas.
He was not wrong. On January 25, a poll by Harris Interactive on voting intentions in the presidential election put Jean-Luc Mélenchon at around 10 percent, the PS’s Anne Hidalgo at 6 or 7 percent, with Green candidate Yannick Jadot hovering between 7 and 10 percent. In other words, with two or even three candidates, making it through to the second round of the presidential election currently seems like mission impossible for the Left.
More Candidates and Voters?
Paradoxically, however, while the whole space to the left polls around 25 percent, the number of presidential contenders has steadily increased in recent months. After Jean-Luc Mélenchon officially announced his candidacy in November, Paris mayor Hidalgo is now openly admitting that she is “getting ready,” and Yannick Jadot has just launched his own platform for 2022: l’écologie! In addition to these three putative candidates, another new contender is PS man Arnaud Montebourg, who wants to gather support by striking a patriotic chord. Then there is Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF); he has not ruled out rebuffing Jean-Luc Mélenchon (whom the party backed in 2012 and again in 2017) and standing for his own party.
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