‘We can’t leave France to Le Pen’: Leading left-winger Glucksmann throws weight behind new alliance

Raphaël Glucksmann, whose Socialist-backed coalition came third in Sunday’s European elections, has emerged as a pivotal figure of France’s political centre-left. His support for the new alliance of the left could swing the balance away from the ascendant far right in the snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron for June 30 and July 7.

Place publique, the Socialist-backed list led by Raphaël Glucksmann, finished in third place in the EU elections on June 9, winning 13.8 percent of the vote, just behind President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition, which tallied 14.6 percent.

Following the poll, Glucksmann, 44, said he was proud of the score but that he was “not in the mood to celebrate” given the unprecedented victory of the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) led by Marine Le Pen, which won 31.4 percent of the vote.

Glucksmann on Friday threw his weight behind a new coalition of the left in the run-up to the vote for a new parliament, accusing Macron of plunging France “into chaos” by calling for early parliamentary elections.

“We can’t leave France to the Le Pen family,” he told broadcaster France Inter on Friday.

Glucksmann backed the new left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, saying it was the “only way” to prevent a far-right victory in the forthcoming polls.

Not a natural politician, Glucksmann has gradually emerged as a leader of the moderate, pro-European left in France.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)


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