France Unbowed La France Insoumise | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | LFI FI |
| Coordinator | Manuel Bompard |
| Founder | Jean-Luc Mélenchon |
| Founded | 10 February 2016; 9 years ago (2016-02-10) |
| Split from | Left Party |
| Newspaper | L'Insoumission Hebdo (until 2022) |
| Membership(2017) |  540,000[needs update] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[A] |
| National affiliation |
|
| European affiliation | European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet Now the People ! |
| European Parliament group | The Left in the European Parliament |
| Colours | Purple |
| National Assembly | 71 / 577 |
| Senate | 0 / 348 |
| European Parliament (French seats) | 9 / 81 |
| Presidencies ofdepartmental councils | 0 / 101 |
| Presidencies ofregional councils | 0 / 17 |
| Website | |
| lafranceinsoumise.fr | |
^ A: The party has been described asleft-wing as well asfar-left.[1] Far-left is a label used by its critics, including French PresidentEmmanuel Macron, to compare it with the far-rightNational Rally (NR), however, various political scientists and historians dispute the far-left label and theMinistry of the Interior describes LFI as "left-wing".[2] | |
La France Insoumise (LFI orFI;[lafʁɑ̃sɛ̃sumiz],lit. 'France Unbowed' or'France in Revolt') is aleft-wing political party inFrance. It was launched in 2016 byJean-Luc Mélenchon, then aMember of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of theLeft Party (PG). It aims to implement theeco-socialist anddemocratic socialist programmeL'Avenir en commun (transl. A Shared Future). The party utilises the lower case Greek letterphi as itslogotype.
The party nominated Mélenchon as its candidate for the2017 French presidential election. He came fourth in the first round, receiving 19.6% of the vote and failing to qualify for the second round by around 2%. After the2017 French legislative election, it formed aparliamentary group of 17 members of theNational Assembly, with Mélenchon as the group's president. In the2019 European Parliament election in France, it won six seats, below its expectations.
In 2022, Mélenchon again became the party's candidate for president, and laterChristiane Taubira, winner of the2022 French People's Primary, endorsed Mélenchon. In the first round of2022 French presidential election voting in April, Mélenchon came third, garnering 7.7 million votes, narrowly behind second-place finisherMarine Le Pen.
La France Insoumise was founded on 10 February 2016,[3][4] based on the belief that traditional parties and political organisations no longer serve democracy.[5] The movement is inspired by the Spanish partyPodemos, the election ofJeremy Corbyn asLabour Party leader in the United Kingdom in 2015 and the candidacy ofBernie Sanders in the2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries in the United States. Its first meeting took place inPlace Stalingrad,Paris on 5 June 2016 in the form of a march numbering about 10,000 people, according to the organisers.[6][7] A second meeting took place in the gardens of theToulouse Observatory on 28 August 2016.[8]
The programmeL'Avenir en commun (transl. A Shared Future) was adopted during theLille convention, attended by just under 1,000 people inSaint-André-lez-Lille on 15/16 October 2016.[9] Several personalities addressed the convention, including formerSociété Générale traderJérôme Kerviel,LuxLeaks whistleblower Antoine Deltour, political specialist Paul Ariès, formerMalian Minister of CultureAminata Traoré, and formerSpeaker of the Hellenic ParliamentZoe Konstantopoulou.[10]
At this convention, the movement also presented twenty candidates for the2017 French legislative election, including Jean-Marie Brom, physicist, research director of theFrench National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and spokesperson ofSortir du nucléaire; Rémy Garnier, public finance inspector and whistleblower in theCahuzac affair; Lionel Burriello, leader of theCGT union for theArcelorMittal steel works inFlorange; Mehdi Kémoune, deputy secretary-general of the CGT union forAir France; actress Sophie De La Rochefoucauld; Marie-Hélène Bourlard, trade unionist featured in the movieMerci patron!;Olivia Cattan, journalist and founder of the associationSOS Autisme France; and Nathalie Seguin, trade unionist and member of theFrench Communist Party (PCF).[10]
In August 2017, La France Insoumise organized its first summer university (calledLes AmFIs, a play on the word amphitheater and the acronym FI forFrance insoumise), a tradition in France where campuses open their doors to political party gatherings and meetings between activists, elected officials, philosophers, and cultural commentators. It was set in theMarseille Saint-Charles University and comprised four days of debates, conferences and workshops. The movement also debated its future.[11]
In the2017 Corsican territorial election, local supporters of La France Insoumise under the banner ofLa Corse Insoumise allied with the PCF. The PCF-FI alliance attackedJean-Luc Mélenchon, and the list was disavowed by Mélenchon.[12][13] During the2024 French legislative election, La France Insoumise refused the nomination of five "rebels":Frédéric Mathieu,Danielle Simonnet,Raquel Garrido,Alexis Corbière, andHendrik Davi.[14][15]
The 2017 presidential campaign was directed by Manuel Bompard, national secretary of the PG, its spokesperson wasAlexis Corbière, formercouncillor of Paris and also national secretary of the PG and its coordinators were Charlotte Girard, lecturer in public law at theParis Nanterre University andJacques Généreux, lecturer in economy at theParis Institute of Political Studies.[16]
On 15 November 2016, Mélenchon held a meeting at Le Manège conference centre inChambéry. Another similar meeting was held on 29 November at theThéâtre Femina [fr] inBordeaux. This meeting was attended by 1,100 people, with several hundred more people outside unable to fit into the theatre.[17] Another large meeting took place on 18 March 2017 inPlace de la Bastille in Paris.[18]
La France Insoumise was polling at 11.5% a month before the first vote.[19] Mélenchon received 19.58% in the ballot, finishing fourth and not reaching the final round by a few hundred thousand votes;[20] despite this, Mélenchon was the most voted candidate of theFrench left, eclipsing theSocialist Party candidateBenoît Hamon.[21]
In November 2020, Mélenchon announced his intention to run for the 2022 presidential election. He conditioned his candidacy to a petition put online by his La France Insoumise party. After winning the threshold of 150,000 signatures, he formally became the party's candidate for the election. In the first round of voting, Mélenchon garnered 7.7 million votes,coming in third among twelve candidates with 22% of the vote, behind presidentEmmanuel Macron in first place with 28%, and narrowly behindMarine Le Pen with 23% of the vote.[22]
The far-right National Rally achieved unexpected success in the2024 EU parliamentary election, sparking significant fear of a hard-right parliamentary majority. In June, these fears would result in the formation of theNew Popular Front,[23] a left-wing electoral alliance that included La France Insoumise as a founding member. La France Insoumise rallied in the polls after this, with the New Popular Front supporting more extensive co-operation between left-wing parties. The party achieved success inthis election, winning 71 seats. The New Popular Front won 192 seats in total, constituting a plurality, with La France Insoumise contributing the largest proportion of its seats.
Ideologically, La France Insoumise is variously described as holdingdemocratic socialist,[24][25]anti-neoliberal,[26]eco-socialist,[25]souverainist,[27]left-wing populist,[28][29] andsoft Eurosceptic positions.[30] On the political spectrum, the party is described asleft-wing,[31] as well asfar-left.[32][a]Far-left is also a label often used by its critics, including the incumbent French presidentEmmanuel Macron, to compare it toNational Rally (RN), a party commonly described asfar-right; however, thefar-left label is not supported by theMinistry of the Interior and theFrench Council of State, the most important body for French administrative justice, both of which consider La France Insoumise to be "left-wing" (like theSocialist Party and theFrench Communist Party) and theNational Rally to be "far-right".[36]
They consider as "far-left" other left-wing parties, such asLutte Ouvrière and theNew Anticapitalist Party.[37][38] According to political scientist Rémi Lefebvre, the programme of La France Insoumise is part of asocialism that is "very interventionist, very reformist, that believes in the essential role of public services, in ecological planning, in redistribution", and that what it questions is "more ultraliberalism than capitalism itself".[39] According to Aurélien Dubuisson, an associate researcher at the Sciences Po Historical Centre and author ofThe Far Left in France published by the Blaise Pascal University Press, defining La France Insoumise as far-left is "a mistake that has been made in recent years, especially by the right wing of the political spectrum". Dubuisson citesFrançois Mitterrand's programme from 1981, which he said would be considered "the worst extremist of the moment. But in 1981, the political context was different, it was permeated by left-wing themes."[40] According to both Dubuisson and Lefebvre, the programme of La France Insoumise is no more radical than Mitterand's.[41][42]
Candidates of the party for the June 2017 legislative elections were 60% fromcivil society (have never been members or elected representatives of a political party), with an average age of around 43 years. The invested candidates have signed the charter of the movement[43] as well as the ethical charter of the independent associationAnticor, committed to ethics in politics, the fight againstcorruption andtax noncompliance.[44] Beginning in late 2018, Mélenchon and the leadership of La France Insoumise made a significant shift by abandoning their sovereigntist and ultra-secularist stances. This decision led to the expulsion of key members,[who?] marking a clear change in the party's ideological direction.[45] The 2022L'Avenir en commun programme for the Popular Union includes a number of proposals, such as replacing capitalism.[46]
In August 2025, during the congress of France Insoumise, in Châteauneuf-sur-Isère, near Valence in the Drôme, the party called for a strike for 10 September 2025, to oppose the 2026 budget bill, presented byFrançois Bayrou.[47]
The drawing up of the programme was coordinated by economist Jacques Généreux and lawyer Charlotte Girard.[48][49] It drew its inspiration fromL'Humain d'abord (transl. Human First), the programme of theLeft Front during the2012 French presidential election, from work carried out by the PG during its conventions oneco-socialism and summits for a "plan B in Europe", and from contributions from supporters of the movement,[48] which the rapporteurs were asked to synthesize. At the end of the Lille Convention, a synthesis of all the proposals resulted in a programme of seven axioms and 357 measures. It was adopted by more than 90% of voters.[10] The movement proposes "ten emblematic measures", approved during the Lille Convention, calling for four main "emergencies" to be addressed: the democratic emergency, the social emergency, the ecological emergency, and the geo-political emergency.[10][50] Adopted by 77,038 votes in an Internet poll, these ten measures are:[10]
Other proposals include withdrawing from theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to avoid French involvement in wars waged by the United States and thus only to act within the framework of theUnited Nations (UN); reinforcing the 35-hour work-week and moving towards 32 hours; and reducing the retirement age to 60.[10][51] This programme, namedL'Avenir en commun (transl. A Shared Future), was published by theÉditions du Seuil on 1 December 2016. It is based around seven axioms: a Sixth Republic;distribution of wealth; environmental planning; withdrawal from European treaties; peace and independence; human progress; and "on the borders of humanity" (ocean,[53] space, and digital); thematic booklets, deepening the proposals of the movement, have also been published as the campaign progressed. The book rapidly entered the top 10 best-seller list by 9 December, with 110,000 copies printed.[54] It was the subject of an adaptation in digital comic strip, broadcast on the Internet.[55][56]
LFI supportedPalestine andBDS movement, was the first party to accuse Israel ofcommitting genocide[57] and criticized French government's support for Israel.[58] The party called forsanctions and anarms embargo on Israel and is the only left-wing party in the country who refused to recognizeHamas as aterrorist organization,[59] preferring to design them as “Palestinian forces” responsible for “war crimes”.[60][61]Mathilde Panot said that the party would also recognize Palestine as a country,[62] asGaza war took place it was one of the main topics discussed by the party during2024 European Parliament election.[63] Reportedly, the party's critics accused it ofantisemitism due to its support for Palestine and the party's controversial actions, like aforementioned refusal to call Hamas terrorist group and for choosingRima Hassan, French-Palestinian jurist, to be LFI'sEuropean Parliament member.[64] She sparked controversy among the public after saying Hamas is acting "legitimately underinternational law" in it is conflict with Israel, but that "does not mean that the methods of armed struggle justify everything [...] you do not have the right to commit a number of abuses such as those that have been committed".[65][66]
The party receives high numbers of votes fromMuslim communities. Recently, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been accused of changing his policies to attract their votes. For example, he began speaking out against Islamophobia in France, notably by participating in the “March Against Islamophobia” in2019, organized after theBayonne mosque shooting;[67][68] he change his view aboutFrench secularism[69] and criticized editors ofCharlie Hebdo.[70]
In2022 French presidential election, the party received 69% of the Muslim vote ; in the second round, 85% of Muslim voters supported incumbent PresidentEmmanuel Macron againstNational Rally candidateMarine Le Pen.[71] According to a poll byInstitut français d'opinion publique (IFOP), 62% of French-Muslim pollers voted for the party in2024 European Parliament election in France.[63] Muslim community's support for La France Insoumise sparked negative reactions among media in France, various outlets accused the party of adhering to "Islamo-leftism" and having “communitarist" voter base.[72] For example,Marianne Magazine accused the party of “fundamentalist entryism” and said that the reason why Muslims vote for LFI is because it listens to their needs, it said that Mélenchon claimed to be the only candidate in the elections who will protect them from perceived islamophobia. It said candidates of the party promises to combat all racism, protection ofislamic clothing, support for indigenous movements andfeminists who supporthijab.[73] Some claimed the party's anti-Israel stance is attracting Muslim voters in poor areas of major cities,[74] or that The party's strong support among Muslims was due to its clear condemnation of Islamophobia and the hope it inspired in them, in contrast to other parties.[75]
In October 2024, La France Insoumise said that theRepresentative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) forced people to follow the "far-right" Israeli government, it also accusedYonathan Arfi, the organization's president, of being far-right. This was a response to Arfi, who accused the party of being “anti-semitic” for its support of Palestine. He said that some members of the party supported Hamas, alleging that the Danièle Obono called Hamas a "resistance movement".[76] IFOP's poll conducted in June of the same year found that 92% of Jewish pollers in France think that LFI is promoting antisemitism, 60% said they would leave France if the party comes to power.[77]Les Complices du mal, a book written by French-Syrian journalistOmar Youssef Souleimane and published byPlon, claimed that Islamists had "infiltrated" the party and that it contained sectarian and anti-republican factions.[78] LFI threatenedlegal action against Souleimane and Plon before the book was even released on store shelves.[79]
Unlike a classical political party, the organisation is not fixed. Supporters' groups, small committees responsible for promoting Mélenchon's candidacy at a local level, have been established all over France and abroad.[80][81]
As of 2017, LFI had a membership of 540,000.[82]
La France Insoumise is not a coalition of political parties; however, several political parties, branches or individuals announced their support for the movement once its programme had been agreed and its candidate chosen, including theLeft Party,[83] the Socialistes Insoumis,[84]Ensemble!,[85] theFrench Communist Party, thePole of Communist Revival in France, and some elected officials and leaders of theEurope Ecology – The Greens (EELV). These organizations are not themselves parts of the movement.[citation needed]
TheLeft Party, of which Mélenchon is a member, is the main political force involved in the movement. Several of its executives are organizing the campaign. The French Communist Party (PCF) is split on support for the movement. The party's national conference rejected a motion of support for Mélenchon by 55% on 5 November 2016,[86] but party members voted three weeks later in favour of support, by 53.6%.[87] Several executive members of the French Communist Party, including presidentPierre Laurent and deputyMarie-George Buffet, have endorsed his candidacy.[88]
In November 2016,Ensemble!, the third component of the Left Front coalition, also announced its support for the movement as 72% of its activists had voted in favour. They had been given the choice of three options: to support Mélenchon and work on a common framework (42% of the votes), to participate more directly in the campaign of La France Insoumise (30%) or to reject "at this stage" any support for Mélenchon (25%);[89] however, the PCF and Ensemble! have chosen to lead "autonomous campaigns", maintaining their independence from the movement. Both parties print leaflets and posters and organize meetings without being associated with the political decisions of the campaign.[90]
In December 2016, the Social Ecology Co-Operative, whose members include political figures fromEurope Ecology – The Greens (EELV), such as EELV federal councillor Francine Bavay, andSergio Coronado, member of the National Assembly for French residents overseas, called for the endorsement of Mélenchon's candidacy.[91] In February 2017,Yannick Jadot (the candidate nominated by the EELV Party presidential primary) withdrew in favour ofBenoît Hamon (PS) on the basis of an agreement not approved by party members. Some EELV members, including elected representatives, then endorsed La France Insoumise.[92]
On 10 March, 27 environmentalists, including MP Sergio Coronado, activists, local officials, candidates for the June legislative elections, and members of the EELV Federal Council, announced that they would not support Hamon in the first round of the presidential election but La France Insoumise instead.[93] They pointed to the fact that Hamon "needs a strong Socialist Party for his campaign" whereas "the hope of an environmentalist left requires instead to get rid of it", criticisedFrançois Hollande's five-year term, and suggested that the integration of political ecology into candidates' programs is "recent and inconsistent" for Hamon, while "deep and lasting" for Mélenchon.[94]
On 12 April, seven EELV federal councillors endorsed Mélenchon rather than Hamon. They noted that if Hamon won the presidency and a parliamentary majority, "the majority would be composed of those who have up to the end supported the policies of François Hollande andManuel Valls", adding: "Who would think that a Socialist Party majority defending Hollande's five-year term would legislate in favour of a radically different social and environmental platform?"[95] On 14 April,Éric Piolle, EELV mayor ofGrenoble, also endorsed La France Insoumise.[96]
The party is a member of theEuropean Left Alliance for the People and the Planet; a pan-European party that supports an alternative to capitalism.[97]
| Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Winning Candidate | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | |||
| 2017 | Jean-Luc Mélenchon | 7,059,951 | 19.58 | 4th | — | Emmanuel Macron | ||
| 2022 | 7,712,520 | 21.95 | 3rd | — | ||||
| Election | Leader | Votes(first round) | Seats | Result | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | ± | ||||
| 2017 | Jean-Luc Mélenchon | 2,497,622 | 11.03 | 17 / 577 |  | Opposition | |
| 2022 | 3,142,354 | 13.82 | 65 / 577 | 48 | Opposition | In coalition with theNUPES | |
| 2024 | Manuel Bompard | 3,364,445 | 10.49 | 64 / 577 |  1 | Opposition | In coalition with theNFP |
La France Insoumise did not participate in theSenate elections until 2023 because of the election's electoral college-based system that would disfavor newly created parties with few locally elected officials.[98] For the 2023 elections, La France Insoumise unsuccessfully attempted to organize united lists with theirNUPES partners before deciding to form their own lists.[99]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Manon Aubry | 1,428,548 | 6.31 (#5) | 6 / 79 | New | The Left |
| 2024[b] | 2,432,976 | 9.87 (#4) | 9 / 81 | 3 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)European Parliament group:The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL | |
| Member parties | |
| See also | |
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
