While the left alliance has fractured, a duo could be born. Before giving birth to a threesome?
It was “a wind of hope”. The gusts of politics shattered everything. Or almost. A little over a year after its creation, Nupes disintegrated almost completely. Of the alliance between LFI, Les Ecologistes (ex-EELV), the PS and the PCF, only the Insoumis and the ecologists remain. The great influence of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, his positions and the numerous political differences which came to light sealed the fate of a union which had allowed the left to win 131 seats in the National Assembly. “The Nupes has lived, it’s over. The sound and the fury, it’s over,” declared Fabien Roussel, deputy and secretary of the Communist Party, in mid-October.
In the Socialist Party, the divorce is not official but the alliance has been put on hold since the start of the war in Israel and the LFI’s refusal to qualify Hamas as a terrorist group. A position which had created yet another turmoil, to the point of making Olivier Faure, the boss of the PS, break down in turn. “I can no longer stand these controversies, these diversions which prevent the left from being heard,” he said sorry at the end of October.
If the left still forms a united front at the Bourbon palace and voted together on the motions of censure, rejection and the “no” to the immigration law, the fact remains that unity no longer provides strength. The rapprochement created by the 2022 legislative elections will have had the merit of bringing this section of the political spectrum around the table but, also, of creating other rapprochements over time. The multiplication of outings against LFI made it possible to find a common point (among others) among socialists and communists. From there to an alliance being born?
According to many observers and players from both teams, Olivier Faure and Fabien Roussel exchange much more than before, now that the first has officially distanced himself from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which the second has never hesitated to do. PS and PCF had already strengthened their ties in June by establishing a pact for the senatorial elections in September.
At present, the discussions between these two political bosses do not seem focused on the rest of the legislature in the Assembly but focused on the presidential election of 2027. The stated objective of the socialist “boss”: a joint candidacy. But with who at the head of the gondola? This is the thorny subject on which they will have to decide if an alliance is formed, while the leader of the communists shows the desire to get back into the race. And it’s hard to imagine him giving in easily, as his freedom of tone sets him apart.
“The subject is not to recreate the Nupes, but rather a new Popular Front with the unions” summarizes a communist to Le Parisien. However, environmentalists want to believe in a scenario, in 2027, similar to the last legislative elections: that the entire left comes together. “A lot of things are being prepared, including a project and a joint candidacy for the 2027 presidential election,” Marine Tondelier indicated in Le Figaro.
For the moment, Olivier Faure seems to see red rather than green when it comes to forming an alliance. But as with the agreement during the senatorial elections, the Ecologists could join in later. “The PS has understood that its only way to regain leadership of the left is to be at the center of an alliance with EELV and the PCF,” said a member of the green party to Le Parisien. In short, a new union on the left, but without Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This is perhaps their new “wind of hope”.
