French left-wing parties agree to form ‘Popular Front’ for parliament election

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PARIS (Reuters) – Political parties representing the French left-wing said they had reached an agreement to form a ‘Popular Front’ to contest the snap parliamentary election which will be held over the coming month.

“A new page in the history of France has been written with this new Popular Front!” said a joint statement issued on behalf on the parties.

This united left-wing ‘Popular Front’ is set to go head-to-head against the far-right’s National Rally (RN) – currently leading the polls for the parliamentary vote – while President Emmanuel Macron’s camp is currently struggling to make headway against those two blocs.

“We now start our campaign – with the aim of winning!” said Francois Ruffin, from the ‘France Unbowed’ (LFI) far-left party, on social media platform X.

Macron called for the snap election, to be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, after his centrist alliance was trounced by the RN in last Sunday’s European Parliament ballot.