First cracks in the French ‘Popular Front’ to stop Le Pen for the Mélenchon purges

He new French ‘Popular Front’ It starts to crack before you even start walking. The presentation of the lists for the early legislative elections in France has generated the first internal frictions in The Rebellious France (LFI), one of the members of this left-wing coalition that seeks to stop the advance of the extreme right of Marine Le Pen after their results in the European elections.

The publication on Friday night of the lists with the 230 candidates that LFI will present in said elections, within the distribution agreed upon by the four partners of the Popular Front, has unleashed criticism against the party leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon. The non-inclusion of five outgoing deputies known for their clashes with Mélenchon has been described by his critics as a real purge.

Those affected by this exclusion have already announced that although they have not been officially invested by the party They will appear again in their constituencies. And they are not alone. Many comrades from France Insoumise have shown their support, in addition to other Popular Front formations.

The most media-friendly of those purged, Alexis Corbière, has pointed out the direct responsibility of Mélenchon, in an interview with the radio station France Info. “It’s totally petty, a settling of accounts when The challenge is to prevent the extreme right from coming to power“.

Raquel Garridoalso excluded, also the leader of LFI and has described what happened in his X account as “sabotage“.

A man convicted of sexist violence

François Ruffina prominent member of LFI and also known for his clashes with Mélenchon, but who has managed to maintain his official investiture, has been outraged by what happened to his colleagues and that at the same time he has been included in the lists Adrien Quatennensright arm of the party leader, who will be a candidate again despite the fact that in 2022 he was convicted of marital violence.

“You prefer a man who hits his wife to some comrades who had the insolence to have a disagreement with the big boss. Our democracy deserves better than you,” denounced Ruffin, who described this action as “sectarianism.”

In a parallel line, Clementine Autainanother outgoing deputy who is also not in the Mélenchon line, with whom she clashed among others over the Quatennens case, has regretted that “in La Francia Insumisa it is better to have been convicted of marital violence than to have defended democracy.” and demonstrate against anti-Semitism after October 7.

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of the Ecologists, which is another of the formations that make up the Popular Front, has spoken in another interview with the channel France 2 of “purge“and has expressed his intention to discuss this issue within his group but also with the ‘number ones’ of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure, and of the Communist Party (PCF), Fabien Roussel.

According to Tondelier, “It is such a big mistake that I think it will not be carried to the end”. In addition, he has spoken out in support of the excluded outgoing deputies.

Own Melenchon has been in the last few months one of the main reasons for the clashes between the four left-wing parties and the Popular Front that they have formed this week has made a series of commitments about themselves.

If the left wins In the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 – something that the polls do not anticipate, for which the extreme right is clearly a favorite – the party of the four that would have obtained the most deputies would be the one proposed by the person they would like to be. Prime Minister.

Mélenchon himself, who is not a candidate for any seat in the National Assembly, has shown his willingness to be prime minister, but without wanting to impose himself from the start.