With his coalition nudging ahead in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections, Jean-Luc Mélenchon might have been expected to strike a consensual note. Over half of tomorrow’s runoffs set Mélenchon’s left-wing allies against the supporters of neoliberal Emmanuel Macron, who was re-elected president not even two months ago.

Yet while Mélenchon hopes that the vote will impose a “cohabitation” — a government in which he is prime minister, despite Macron being president — his campaign hasn’t sought compromise with the incumbent. Rather, the France Insoumise leader insists that this election is about two fundamentally conflicting visions of humanity’s future.

Telling of Mélenchon’s message was a rally in Toulouse on Tuesday night, in which he told his audience that it was a time to break with the “bankrupt” neoliberal order. “Neoliberalism is a dangerous system, unable to correct its failings, because they make it richer.” From COVID-19 to climate disaster, it always finds new avenues for profit for the few.