San Francisco Frontiers - French left seeks comeback against Macron in parliamentary polls

Hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon narrowly missed out on the second round of the April presidential vote, but is determined for a rematch as he leads the freshly-formed New Ecological and Social Popular Union (NUPES) coalition into battle.

Comprising Melenchon's France Unbowed (LFI) party, as well as the Greens, Communists, and Socialists, the alliance deal hopes to thwart Macron's domestic agenda, in particular the plan to raise the retirement age to 65.

"Nothing was decided (in the presidential elections)," Melenchon told around 100 supporters at Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, a small town to the south of Paris, on Tuesday.

Macron beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the second round with 58.55 percent of the vote, but Melenchon and his allies argue many voters backed Macron in the second round just to stop the far-right from acceding to power.

Immediately after the second round, Melenchon asked voters to elect him prime minister by handing him a majority in the parliamentary polls, a two-round election on June 12 and 19.

A majority of seats for NUPES would force a clunky "cohabitation" -- where the prime minister and president hail from different factions.

For the past two decades, elected presidents have avoided such a scenario and been rewarded with a majority of the 577 seats in the lower-house National Assembly.

-'End hell'-

But an opinion poll published Thursday shows Macron's alliance Ensemble (Together) winning between 260 and 300 seats, potentially falling short of an absolute majority, for which 289 seats are needed.

According to the Ipsos Sopra Steria poll, NUPES may win between 175 and 215, turning the left coalition into the main force of opposition to Macron.

"There is a need for change," said a Socialist city councillor who asked not to be named at the meeting in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

"The NUPES in power would bring a breath of fresh air -- the voice of working class areas, of young people," she added.

Held in a park surrounded by social housing, the meeting with Melenchon in Essonne aimed to whip up support for NUPES candidates in a department where the parties now part of the coalition failed to win any constituencies in 2017.

"He (Melenchon) speaks with the heart, he goes straight to the point," Ali, 52, who asked for his last name not to be used, told AFP. He lives in the area and defines himself as "an immigrant but also French".

"What we offer is another vision of the world, of society," Melenchon told supporters in Paris last week.

"I'm not saying we will create a paradise from one day to the next, but I guarantee we will immediately put an end to hell," he added.

-'Gaul Chavez'-

The French perceive Melenchon as having "all the criteria of a populist candidate: a discourse that speaks to them tinged with demagogy," said head of studies for the Paris-based think tank Jean Jaures Foundation Jeremie Peltier in a report.

"Jean-Luc Melenchon is a Gaul Chavez," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire recently told French daily Le Figaro, referring to Venezuela's since deceased leader Hugo Chavez.

The former Marxist came under fire this week for tweeting "the police kill", after officers shot a woman dead in a car in northern Paris Saturday after the vehicle failed to stop when summoned by officers.

But Melenchon defended his comments and congratulated himself for sparking debate on the use of force by the police in France through what he said was a deliberately provocative tweet.

Criticism of Melenchon also emanates from the left, in particular from some of his former Socialist colleagues -- despite the presence of the Socialist Party (PS) in the coalition.

Melenchon left the PS in 2008 to form his own movement, the Left Party, and his rise on the left has been a bitter pill to swallow for some in his former party, attached to a left-of-centre politics at odds with Melenchon's radical brand.

In the context of a "low intensity campaign", abstention will play a crucial role in the vote, said political sociologist Vincent Tiberj from Sciences Po Bordeaux University.

"When an election fails to mobilise people, it affects those who only vote occasionally -- such as the working classes and the young -- and thus voters of the far-right National Rally and NUPES," he added.

S.Hall--SFF