The French left is missing its moment

As a group, they’d even managed to campaign well, keeping the infighting to a minimum and going for the jugular when it came to the far-right and those who enabled it. Their reward had been worth it; in the second round, the NFP unexpectedly became the largest party in the National Assembly, a remarkable recovery after years spent in and around the wilderness.

In just a month, the French left had managed to rise to the challenge, and tell the naysayers where to shove it. Gone were the endless infighting and pointless ideological quibbles. Now, finally, the united front was ready to govern. 

Or was it?

The second round of the legislative elections took place ten days ago, and France is yet to find a new prime minister. The National Assembly is now split in three large blocs, with none of them particularly wanting to work with the others. 

Perhaps most importantly – and this is what you may have missed as a foreigner – the left coalition is yet to agree on a candidate for PM. You read that right.

The NFP campaigned as a coalition for weeks, and knew from the available polling that they were likely to do very well in the elections. At no point during that campaign did they agree on who would be their PM, were they to be asked to pick one. It already felt like an avoidable mishap at the time; many French voters cannot stand Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of far-left La France Insoumise.

By ruling him out early on, it is very likely that they would have won more seats – perhaps even enough to form a majority government. They did not do it. Why not? Let’s just not get into it. It’s too late now; there’s no point.

What is worth discussing, however, is the fact that the left have had a week and a half to pick someone and try to help end the gridlock, and they have simply not managed to do it. Instead, they have argued, endlessly, with each part and faction of the coalition trying to impose their own candidate, and refusing to go for anyone else.

It has been an unedifying sight, and an absolutely infuriating one. During the campaign, many of the left’s detractors argued that voting for the NFP would be useless, as the coalition was too unwieldy to function, and left-wingers could not be trusted to work efficiently with other left-wingers.

In the end, they proved those critics right. That is exactly what they have ended up doing. Perhaps more infuriatingly, what they have also done is betray the millions of voters who dared to believe in them, and dared to hope. 

The NFP was created to block the far-right, but it also tried to show a future in which the left belonged in mainstream French politics once again. Out of power since Hollande’s chaotic government ended in 2017, the left spent seven years entirely marginalised, and on the verge of electoral oblivion. 

This could and should have been the beginning of something new; a real national renewal. Instead, the left has gone back to doing what it does best – gazing at its own navel, unaware of the real world or unwilling to confront it. 

What will happen next? It’s hard to tell. As the NFP has seemingly forgotten, they’re only one piece of the puzzle here. They do not have an absolute majority, and will have to figure something out with others.

If they don’t – and it is likely that they will not – other parties may pounce instead. It would certainly feel unfair to NFP voters, but it may be what the politicians deserve. 

If you want to make it to the big time in politics, you’ve got to prove that you’re capable of handling it. This iteration of the French left is yet to show that it is.