The New Ecological and Social People's Union (, NUPES) was a
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
E ...
of
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Formed on
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS), the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
Ensemble!
Ensemble!, officially Ensemble – Movement for a Leftist, Ecologist, and Solidary Alternative (), is a French left-wing political party, defining itself as anti-capitalist, anti-racist, feminist and eco-socialist. It was launched in November ...
1997 French legislative election
Legislative elections were held in France on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislat ...
. Over 70 dissident candidates who refused the accord still ran.
Per a press release, the union's founding goal for the 2022 legislative election was to deny
centre-right
Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
a presidential
majority
A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below.
It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
cohabitation
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a Romance (love), romantic or Sexual intercourse, sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. ...
. NUPES won the most seats outside of Ensemble, denying Macron a majority; at the same time, they underperformed expectations, only winning about 22% of the seats and 26% of the popular vote, while the far-right
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
obtained its best result ever and became the largest
parliamentary opposition
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
group, due to NUPES being an electoral alliance.
In October 2023, the coalition's future was put in doubt when the Socialist Party voted a "moratorium" on its participation to the NUPES alliance following LFI leadership's refusal to qualify
Hamas
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
as a terrorist organization in the context of the
Gaza war
The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
.
History
Formation
In October 2021, shortly before the
2022 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
(LFI) in order to support its candidacy.
In the context of the
2022 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...
, LFI, the largest left-wing force in the presidential election, sought to unite the main left-wing parties around the banner of the New People's Ecological and Social Union. Discussions were held with the
Europe Ecology – The Greens
The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
(EELV) and the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
(PCF), which joined the coalition on 2–3 May 2022, respectively, while the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS), after having reached an agreement to join the coalition on 4 May, voted to do so in its National Council on 5 May. After that, the
New Anticapitalist Party
The New Anticapitalist Party ( , NPA ) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of the French radical Left, and attract new activ ...
(NPA) announced it would not enter the coalition due to insurmountable ideological differences with the PS; it also said it would support the coalition's candidates that belonged to the radical left-wing. The
Republican and Socialist Left
The Republican and Socialist Left (, GRS) is a socialist political party in France. It was founded on 3 February 2019 after the merger of the Alternative for a Republican, Ecologist and Socialist Program (APRÉS) and the Citizen and Republican Mo ...
(GRS) said it would negotiate its entry into the union.
Two groupings of smaller left-wing parties reached out to the coalition seeking to start negotiations: the Federation of the Republican Left, composed of GRS along with the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
, and Together on Our Territories. Failing to do so, the GRS and its allies announced its intention to run 100 candidates. On 20 May, New Deal announced that it was withdrawing its candidates and endorsing NUPES candidates around the country.
Expansion
With the aim of a coalition agreement, EELV proposed changing the name People's Union to Popular and Ecologist Union, or People's Ecologist and Social Front. Shortly before 2 May, an agreement was concluded with EELV, under the common banner of the New Ecological and Social People's Union. The agreement provided for 100
constituencies
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
out of 577 for the environmental bloc. EELV wanted the centers of the cities won in the 2020 French municipal elections. It obtained
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, and
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
8th
Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight.
Eighth may refer to:
* One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole
* Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet)
* Octave, an interval b ...
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. On 3 May, the PCF announced that it would join the coalition. In its press release, the party said it would want to form a majority with its allies and that the PCF and LFI share "common pragmatic objectives".
The PS initially ruled out talks with LFI, before joining the talks on 27 April; the talks were again suspended on 29 April. The PS leader
Olivier Faure
Olivier Faure (; born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party since 2018 and Deputy (France), Member of the Nati ...
negotiated with LFI in its headquarters on 2 May. A day later, Manuel Bompard, the negotiator for LFI, said that negotiations between the parties had been "difficult on merits and on the constituencies". On 4 May, the PS came to an agreement in principle with the coalition, subject to a vote by the party's national council the next day. The national council ratified the agreement on 5 May. After the PS was admitted, the NPA announced that it would not formally join the coalition but said it would support more radical left-wing NUPES candidates.
2022 French legislative election
In the first round of the
2022 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...
, NUPES finished either second (per the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the ...
) or first (per ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
''), slightly behind or ahead of Ensemble (25.75%–25.66% per the Ministry of the Interior and 26.1%–25.9% per ''Le Monde''). This was because some NUPES candidates had not had their affiliation registered by the Ministry of Interior, which French media took in consideration. Four LFI candidates were elected in the first round, the most of any party or coalition, and 386 NUPES candidates qualified for the second round; of the over 70 dissident candidates, 15 qualified for the second round.
After the second round, NUPES was forecast to win 149 seats, resulting in a
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
and the loss of an absolute
majority
A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below.
It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
for Macron's Ensemble. As NUPES was only an electoral agreement and each party is expected to form its own
parliamentary group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
, it did not become the largest
parliamentary opposition
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
group. As with the first round, several news outlets, such as ''Le Monde'', gave a different result as to the final seat count, with NUPES on 142 rather than 131 due to differences as to candidates, particularly in the French overseas constituencies, being classified as members of these alliances or not.
Electoral results and aftermath
Depending on the method of calculation, NUPES won either 131 seats (according to the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, the ...
) or 142 (according to ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
parliamentary majority
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multip ...
and to form the formal opposition in Parliament. The coalition performed worse than most polls between the first and second round indicated, and the far-right
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
(RN) gained 89 seats, its best result ever.Fabien Roussel, leader of the PCF, said of the results: " UPESdidn't allow us to have a majority, and it didn't prevent the far right from making strong progress either, and that calls out to me, that questions me ... I can see that the alliance only speaks to part of France, to that of the big cities, and not to that of rurality." He also praised the alliance for having led the
French Left
The French Left () refers to communist, socialist, social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic ...
to win far more seats than in the
2017 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...
Olivier Faure
Olivier Faure (; born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party since 2018 and Deputy (France), Member of the Nati ...
and the PCF's Roussel, stated that they would do so. LFI requested a
vote of no confidence
A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
to be held on 5 July, but did not pass with only NUPES voting for it.
Despite the formation of separate groups in the National Assembly, NUPES voted as a bloc to elect Éric Coquerel of LFI President of the Finance Committee, defeating candidates from RN and The Republicans. The post of President of the Finance Committee traditionally goes to the largest opposition group in parliament.
domestic violence
Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
by his wife. Following this revelation, an investigation was opened by the
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
police. In a press release Quatennens admitted to having slapped his wife once, before backtracking and describing a multitude of events of "extreme mutual tension" that led to him grabbing her wrist, elbowing her or sending excessive amounts of text messages. Following these revelations, he resigned from his post as LFI co-ordinator but remained an MP. On the 26th of September, Quatennens' wife officially pressed charges. This caused large amounts of tension within the NUPES with a lot of criticism being directed towards LFI, particularly because other sexual misconduct allegations had been directed towards Éric Coquerel and earlier in the year, with the latter not even being able to stand in the legislative election.
Many within the NUPES perceived LFI's inability to deal with the Quatennens Affair as a political fault, notably EELV MP Sandrine Rousseau. Furthermore, political analysts and commentators saw LFI's decision to maintain Quatennens as an MP as the movement turning its back on militants and younger generations. An open letter published in
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
in December 2022, and signed by over one thousand militants and LFI supporters demanded the resignation of Quatennens and his withdrawal from politics.
After pleading guilty to the charges against him, Quatennens was convicted to four months of prison with surcharge and a 2000 euro fine. Following this, he was excluded from the LFI-NUPES parliamentary group and sat as a non-inscrit until his reintegration into the group in April 2023, with the decision to welcome him back into the group sparking debate throughout both the NUPES and the LFI group itself.
Bayou Affair
Simultaneously, alongside the Quattennens Affair, a similar case erupted involving EELV national secretary Julien Bayou. In July 2022, it was reported to the EELV internal cell for violence and sexual harassment that Bayou had been carrying out behaviour of "psychological violence and harassment" towards women in his entourage. On the 20th of September, in the midst of the Quatennens Affair, Bayou resigned from his post as co-president of the EELV parliamentary group and from his position as EELV national secretary. According to French magazine ''Marianne'', this came as a result of internal pressure from prominent EELV member Sandrine Rousseau.
Following Bayou's resignation, he has stayed relatively quiet in the media, though he remains an MP and continues to sit with the EELV parliamentary group at the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
. Following the 2022 EELV party congress, Marine Tondelier was elected national secretary with 90.8% of votes.
Many journalists and political commentators saw the large of number of allegations directed towards NUPES members as discrediting the political union.
Tensions with the Communist Party
As early as September 2022, tensions began to arise between the NUPES and Communist Party national secretary Fabien Roussel, with many left-wing commentators seeing Roussel as too "right-wing" with some newspapers calling him "the right's favourite communist." Further tensions arose in 2023 after Roussel called
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
a friend and stated that they have "known ach otherfor a long time." This came after weeks of extreme violence between protestors and police in the wake of the 2023 pension reform.
More tensions arose in April 2023 after Roussel called the NUPES an "outdated" electoral coalition that "had failed." He also expressed his desires to extend the coalition notably to former Socialist
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. These statements were also met with criticism from LFI who issued a press-statement directed at Roussel. During a speech at the 2023 Communist Party congress, where he was re-elected with 80.4% of votes, Roussel replied to LFI and NUPES saying "I say it clearly and in fraternity, mind your own business!"
Socialist infighting and election of Martine Froger
In January 2023, the Socialist Party held its 80th congress in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
.
Olivier Faure
Olivier Faure (; born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party since 2018 and Deputy (France), Member of the Nati ...
, incumbent first secretary was re-elected with 51.09% of the vote. Nonetheless, both Faure and challenger,
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol would each claim that they had won, making it unclear who the true winner was for a couple of days. In the end, a collective leadership agreement was agreed upon and Mayer-Rossignol was appointed delegate national secretary.
A soft critic of the NUPES, Mayer-Rossignol's race for national secretary was supported by a number of the party's "elephants" notably
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
Anne Hidalgo
Ana MarÃa "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS).
Hidalg ...
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
. Despite the national direction of the Socialist Party offering their support to Taurine, the local federation alongside the
Radical Party of the Left
The Radical Party of the Left (, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG has been a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socialist Party (, PS). Af ...
chose to support dissident Socialist candidate Martine Froger. Both candidates made it to the second round of voting, and Froger benefited from the support of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and RN candidates who called to "make barrage" against Taurine. Furthermore, former Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve joined Froger in the constituency, offering her his support. Froger was elected with 60.2% of the vote and was congratulated in person by Mayer-Rossignol and Carol Delga, against the wishes of both the NUPES and the Socialist Party leadership. To date no sanctions have been taken against Mayer-Rossignol and other members of the Socialist Party.
Once elected, Froger caused further tension within the NUPES with the question of her seating in the Socialist Parliamentary Group posing a problem for some, with many not seeing it fit that she sit within the NUPES intergroup. Some suggested that she sit with the centrist LIOT group alongside other dissident socialists.
Socialist Party suspension
In the aftermath of
Hamas
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
Gaza war
The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
that Faure had led the suspension of the Socialist Party due to "personal reasons" between the two.
Members
The initial agreement, struck on 1 May 2022, brought together
and its allies together with a grouping of ecologist parties, including
Europe Ecology – The Greens
The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
agreed to join the alliance, followed by the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
Europe Ecology – The Greens
The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...
.
Candidates 2022
Breakdown by constituency
Dissident candidates
A number of candidates, mostly from the PS, announced their intention to stand for election even against a NUPES-backed candidate. Xavier Perrin, a PS candidate in Loire-Atlantique's 8th constituency, said he would remain a candidate against Matthias Tavel of La France Insoumise and NUPES. The four PS candidates in
also announced they would remain in the campaign despite the appointment of non-PS NUPES candidates in their constituencies. Michèle Picard, the PCF candidate in Rhône's 14th constituency, declared that she would continue her candidacy despite the appointment of another NUPES candidate, Taha Bouhafs. After a PS dissident entered the same race, Bouhafs withdrew, and Picard hoped to become the official NUPES candidate. Picard eventually withdrew from the race and supported the alternative LFI candidate.
Lamia El Aaraje
Lamia El Aaraje (born 22 November 1986) is a Moroccan-born French politician who briefly represented the Paris's 15th constituency, 15th constituency of Paris in the National Assembly (France), National Assembly from 2021 to 2022. She has been ...
, the PS incumbent in Paris's 15th constituency, also announced that she was proceeding with her candidacy despite the appointment of NUPES candidate Danielle Simonnet. PS incumbent
Sylvie Tolmont
Sylvie Tolmont (; born 9 October 1962) is a French politician from the Socialist Party, who has been the member of the National Assembly for Sarthe's 4th constituency from 2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Coopera ...
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
. The participants share several proposals, including the increase in the minimum wage after tax to €1,500 per month, the return to retirement at 60, the freezing of the prices of basic necessities, ecological development, and the establishment of a Sixth Republic (France being in its Fifth Republic). The coalition aims to obtain a majority in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
in order to impose
cohabitation
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a Romance (love), romantic or Sexual intercourse, sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. ...
French Left
The French Left () refers to communist, socialist, social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic ...
hailed the negotiations as historic, it was not without criticism for the coalition's perceived
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...
and an alleged break from the
Third Way
The Third Way is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics by advocating a varying synthesis of Right-wing economics, right-wing economic and Left-wing politics, left-wing so ...
'' criticised the coalition for its perceived Euroscepticism, calling such positions "a historical mistake" and arguing that "the Left must proclaim loud and clear its commitment to the European Union". ''
Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is a professor of economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, associate chair at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and Centennial Professor of Economics ...
, also reacted favorably to the union and its economic programme, and published a column in support on '' Le Journal du Dimanche''.
PS majority and social-democratic left
Many PS mayors have supported NUPES and called for the PS to join the alliance.
Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
mayor Johanna Rolland attributed the failure of the PS and the left, including
2022 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
Rennes
Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (, ; Norman: ''Tchidbouo'') is a port city in the department of Manche, Normandy, northwestern France, established on 1 January 2016.Olivier Bianchi (
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
Benoît Payan
Benoît Payan (; born 31 January 1978) is a French politician who has served as Mayor of Marseille since 2020. He was a member of the Socialist Party (PS) until 2020.
Early life
Payan was born and raised in the Pont-de-Vivaux neighbourhood in ...
(
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
Villeurbanne
Villeurbanne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France.
It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France ...
) published a forum expressing their support for NUPES while reaffirming a "deep attachment to the idea" of
European integration
European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...
.
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
called on the PS to join NUPES, whilst stating that it does not "correspond in all respects to erdeep convictions". Such support for a union with LFI was accused by the right-wing of the PS to have gone against the economic positions of
president of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...
. During the party's National Council on 5 May, the agreement was ratified and the PS joined NUPES. At the event, many PS personalities approved the union, notably Christophe Clergeau, Corinne Narassiguin, and Laurence Rossignol.
Olivier Faure
Olivier Faure (; born 18 August 1968) is a French politician who has served as the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party since 2018 and Deputy (France), Member of the Nati ...
centre-left
Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
parties (PS and EELV) represent greater local support than their results in the 2022 presidential election showed. He encouraged a union between the PS and other forces of the left, stating that "it is clear that if the left is not united, it is going to be defeated". 2007 presidential candidate
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.
Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...
said he supported NUPES, but wished the nomination in the
15th arrondissement of Paris
The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth').
The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the Rive ...
to go to the outgoing PS deputy
Lamia El Aaraje
Lamia El Aaraje (born 22 November 1986) is a Moroccan-born French politician who briefly represented the Paris's 15th constituency, 15th constituency of Paris in the National Assembly (France), National Assembly from 2021 to 2022. She has been ...
.
Journalist and Place Publique politician Raphaël Glucksmann announced his support for NUPES, arguing that he wanted to avoid a majority of President
National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
(RN). While noting the disagreements with LFI, he said he would do "everything so that the maximum number of solidarity, humanist, and environmentalist voices can be heard from this summer in the Assembly".
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
withdrew all of its candidates and declared its support for NUPES.
PS minority and opposition
According to ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'', disapproval and dissension to join NUPES have represented a minority in the PS, and are due to political figures from previous currents of the party, in particular those close to Hollande, commonly called the "Elephants of the Socialist Party"; centrist dissent was driven by regional success against LFI and primarily represented by Carole Delga, the president of
Occitania
Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...
, and
Anne Hidalgo
Ana MarÃa "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS).
Hidalg ...
, the PS mayor of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
and
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.
Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...
Radical Party of the Left
The Radical Party of the Left (, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG has been a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Socialist Party (, PS). Af ...
announced that it would not join the coalition, while denouncing the negotiations, claiming that this event marked "the death of the social-democratic left". The Movement of Progressives, formerly part of the Ecologist Pole, was also opposed to the agreement, stating: "negotiating with FI constitute an intolerable betrayal by irresponsible apparatchiks".
Extra-parliamentary left
The far-leftist
New Anticapitalist Party
The New Anticapitalist Party ( , NPA ) is a far-left political party in France founded in February 2009. The party launched with 9,200 members and was intended to unify the fractured movements of the French radical Left, and attract new activ ...
reacted negatively to the PS's potential inclusion in the union, stating that it does not believe the PS is a force of social change; the party failed to negotiate an agreement with NUPES and ran its own candidates separately, whilst supporting the union's more left leaning candidates. Opposition also came from the
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
party
Lutte Ouvrière
Lutte Ouvrière (, ) is a Trotskyist communist party in France, named after its weekly paper. Arlette Laguiller was the party's spokeswoman from 1973 to 2008 and ran in each presidential election until 2012, when Nathalie Arthaud was the candi ...
, which announced that the party would run its own candidates separate from NUPES, and accused the union of
reformism
Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution.
Within the socialist movement, ref ...
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
pro-European
Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...
voters who could then mobilize for LREM, they regretted the union, considering its "undeniable power in the first round", and recalled that they had benefited from the left's disunity in certain constituencies in the
2017 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
Marine Le Pen
Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...
(instead of a full-endorsement of Macron) in the
2022 French presidential election
Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...
, the presidential majority faced a choice in votes between left-wing and far-right candidates. Party officials said they would decide on a "case-by-case basis".
Élisabeth Borne
Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
, said: "Our position is not a single vote for the RN". At the same time, she expressed support only for NUPES candidates who, according to her, respect republican values.
See also
*
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front (, ) was an alliance of left-wing movements in France, including the French Communist Party (PCF), the socialist SFIO and the Radical-Socialist Republican Party, during the interwar period. Three months after the victory of ...
Union of the Left (France)
{{unreferenced, date=December 2011
Union of the Left (''L'Union de la gauche''), was a Left-wing politics, leftist, Social democracy, social-democratic and social liberalism, social-liberal coalition of list of political parties in France, politic ...
*
Greens and Left Alliance
The Greens and Left Alliance (, AVS) is a left-wing political alliance active in Italy, which was launched on 2 July 2022 as a federation of two political parties, Italian Left (SI) and Green Europe (EV).
The AVS is often referred to as a red– ...
, political alliance in Italy inspired by NUPES
* People's Union (Italy), political alliance in Italy inspired by NUPES