Sharjah 24 – AFP: France's left-of-centre parties on Wednesday reached an alliance deal for June parliamentary polls, aiming for a strong enough showing to hinder President Emmanuel Macron's controversial reform plans.
After talks dragged through the night past a Tuesday deadline, the Socialist Party (PS) fell in line alongside the Greens and the Communist Party (PCF) behind the hard-left France Unbowed movement (LFI), who emerged as the dominant force on the left in April's presidential election.
The alliance must still be approved by the Socialists' National Council on Thursday, with people close to the party leadership warning against viewing the vote as a foregone conclusion.
A strong showing for LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon saw him miss out on the April presidential runoff vote by a whisker, while the other left candidates were all but wiped out.
After Macron's win, Melenchon immediately called on voters to "elect him prime minister" and hand the left a National Assembly majority to block the centrist's reforms, including an unpopular plan to push the retirement age back from 62 to 65.
A forced "cohabitation" between Macron and Melenchon would be the first in two decades, but observers say that such a scenario remains unlikely.
Like the presidential election, the legislative polls in France's 577 constituencies work in a two-round system -- meaning alliances off the bat offer the best chance of making it to the run-off.
A united left ahead of the parliamentary poll is "an unprecedented and important event", political historian Gilles Candar told AFP -- although he added that it remains to be seen whether it can secure power or remain coherent.
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