Glucksmann, a champion for center-left politics, insisted during the European campaign that his success would mean the end of Mélenchon’s influence over the left.
Now, with Glucksmann finishing first among left-wing candidates in the EU election, Socialists have almost leveled the playing field. Of the 546 candidates who will be representing the new alliance, 229 will be backed by LFI, against 175 for the Socialists, 92 for the Greens and 50 for the Communists.
Glucksmann spent the weeks in the run-up to the EU election lambasting Mélenchon’s “brutality” and divisiveness — but after four days of negotiating, the social-democrat agreed to put the divisions on halt for now.
“At some point, every man and woman must look back at history and know what their duty is,” Glucksmann said Friday, stressing the urgent need to block the far right’s rise while insisting that Mélenchon would not be prime minister were the left-wing alliance to win a majority in the National Assembly.
Mélenchon is also claiming that, for the sake of unity, he is willing to step aside. “I will never be the problem,” he said Sunday. “If you don’t want me to be prime minister, I won’t be.”
Former president Hollande, despite being a staunch critic of LFI, will run under the New Popular Front banner in his home district of Corrèze. “To prevent the far right from coming to power, there comes a time when we have to look beyond our differences,” Hollande said.
But the big question is if all left-wing voters will, like their leaders, back the new alliance, or if some will be reluctant to do so. Polling shows that while over 85 percent of LFI voters will cast their ballots for the New Popular Front, between one third and one sixth of Green and Socialist voters could opt for other options.
