Left Party (France)

The Left Party (French: ', PG) is a democratic-socialist political party in France, founded in 2009 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marc Dolez after their departure from the Socialist Party (PS). The PG brings together personalities and groups from different political traditions; it claims a socialist, ecologist and republican orientation.

Politically located between the Socialist Party and the French Communist Party, the Left Party intends to federate all the sensitivities of the anti-liberal left—which they also calls "the other left"—within the same alliance. In 2008, the PG joined forces with the Communist Party of the United Left and six other left-wing and far-left organizations in the coalition of the Left Front, of which Jean-Luc Mélenchon was the candidate for the presidential election.

The PG was co-chaired from 2010 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Martine Billard. In 2016, the Left Party had 8,000 members. At the end of 2014, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Martine Billard resigned, and the party leadership was then collectively ensured by the national secretariat. The weekly newspaper, ''L'Intérêt général'' (formerly ''À gauche'') is sent to all members but also to simple subscribers. It is printed at more than 15,000 copies a week.

In 2016, in view of the presidential and legislative elections of the following year, Jean-Luc Mélenchon formed a new movement, La France Insoumise, that the Left Party helped to animate.

History

It was founded in November 2008 by former Socialist senator Jean-Luc Mélenchon, deputy Marc Dolez, and other dissidents of the party together with the ' movement (', "Movement for a Republican and Social Alternative").

They had left the five days earlier, in protest of the result of the Reims Congress vote on motions, where the leftist motion they supported won only 19%.

They were joined after by other members from the left of the Socialist Party, by people who hadn't been members of a political party before, and by dissidents from the Green Party following the deputy Martine Billard.

In 2010 the PG was accepted in the Party of European Left.

In November 2013, the joined the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Co-presidents and co-founders Mélenchon and stepped down from office in 2014. Since its 2015 congress, the party is led by its coordinators and spokespersons Eric Coquerel and Danielle Simonnet.

On 2 July 2018 the party withdrew from the Party of European Left, not agreeing with the presence of the Greek party Syriza in the alliance.

Elected officials

* Member of the European Parliament: Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Around 90 local elected officials (municipal, regional and general councillors), including two members of the Council of Paris, initially joined the party. This number has dropped since then.

Popular support and electoral record

The PG has not yet run independently in an election, so its base of support is hard to pin-point.

European Parliament

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

2008 establishments in France
Alter-globalization
Democratic socialist parties in Europe
Eurosceptic parties in France
La France Insoumise
Non-governmental organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Parties represented in the European Parliament
Party of the European Left former member parties
Political parties established in 2008
Political parties of the French Fifth Republic
Socialist parties in France
Jean-Luc Mélenchon