Mélenchon’s LFI Shows Strength as Greens Split Over Alliance

Overview

• LFI staged unusually large summer universities in the Drôme this weekend, drawing between about 6,000 and 8,000 participants and reinforcing Jean‑Luc Mélenchon’s lead in left‑of‑centre polls.
• Mélenchon publicly invited the Ecologistes to ‘help’ his campaign but refused to reopen the question of his candidacy, making clear LFI expects other parties to join rather than renegotiate who leads the left.
• The Ecologistes remain deeply divided: Secretary‑general Marine Tondelier says she will run an autonomous ecologist campaign, Sandrine Rousseau urges rapprochement with LFI, and other figures favor an alliance with a PS‑linked option.
• Raphaël Glucksmann is widely reported to be preparing to formalize a presidential bid through a Socialist primary this weekend, creating a clear social‑democratic alternative that heightens pressure on the Greens’ decision.
• Campaign stakes are practical: Mélenchon used the AMFI’s to roll out specific promises such as a conscription‑based regional civil‑security reserve and a pledge to censure the 2027 budget, and analysts warn that a fragmented left—roughly 30% of the electorate—could leave no single left candidate able to reach the second round, benefiting the RN.