Far right victory leaves left-wing French supporters with bittersweet taste

PARIS — Thousands of left-leaning protesters gathered in Paris on Sunday night after the first round of a snap election that resulted in the far-right National Rally (RN) winning 33 percent of the vote, according to early estimates.

There was a mixture of emotions in the crowd.

“I’m really worried about the far right coming to power,” said Alban, a 23-year-old student, who asked to be identified by his first name. He added, between sips of beer, that he was still hopeful: “We still have a week left, so we’ll keep fighting.”

As forecast in pre-election polls, the first round of the French legislative election confirmed the New Popular Front, an alliance of the main parties on the left, as the second-biggest political force in the country.

Hastily formed a day after French President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve the National Assembly, the alliance consists of the France Unbowed party, the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists.

The left-wing alliance made a strong showing, with around 28 percent of the vote, but is unlikely to land enough seats in the runoffs to form a majority in parliament.

That didn’t stop a defiant Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leader of France Unbowed, presenting himself as the main obstacle to the far right. He called on voters to give “an absolute majority to the New Popular Front.”

There was a mixture of emotions in the crowd. | Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images

“The country will have to choose,” Mélenchon said from his party’s electoral headquarters. The options for Sunday’s second round are “either the New Popular Front or the National Rally,” he argued.

Mélenchon called for the leftwing alliance’s candidates to withdraw in districts in which they finished third and the far right came first. The strategic move, designed to help mainstream parties secure a majority of votes in the second round, was welcomed by his supporters.

“He took his political responsibilities, and it’s an answer to those who were trying to put us side by side with the RN,” said Charbel Chaaya, a 23-year-old law student who believes the left can still win the election.

But the left’s old divisions are never far away.

Lili Lorton, a 23-year-old social sciences student, said she supports the left but feels closest to the Greens. Her family is also left-leaning, but her parents support Raphaël Gluckmann, a center-left figure who led the Socialists’ campaign for the European election. Lorton convinced them to vote for the Greens, mostly for “ecological reasons.”

“On identity issues, notably racial issues, we argue a lot,” she admitted.