The French left "New Popular Front" - an alliance of parties hastily put together after President Emmanuel Macron surprisingly called early parliamentary elections last month - scored a shock victory in yesterday's vote over the far right and ruling centrists, BTA writes.
It is made up of the French Communist Party, the hard left "Unyielding France", the green "Environmentalists" and the Socialist Party. The coalition has not said who its choice for prime minister would be if President Emmanuel Macron tasks it with forming a government. Below, Reuters presents some of its most famous figures:
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party "Disobedient France"
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, 72, has been a fixture of French left-wing politics for decades and held ministerial posts in previous governments when he was a member of the Socialist Party.
He ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, improving his score each time. In 2022, it ranked third, just behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Macron won this election.
A fiery orator, Mélenchon is one of the most divisive figures in French politics, enthusing some voters while horrifying others with his unbridled tax-and-spend proposals, class-war rhetoric and controversial foreign policy positions, particularly on Gaza . Critics accuse him of anti-Semitism, which he denies.
Marin Tondelier, leader of the "Environmentalists"
Tondelier, 37, grew up in Hennes-Beaumont, a town in northern France known as a bastion of the far-right "National Assembly" and its leader Le Pen.
Tondelier has long opposed the "National Assembly".
In 2014, she was elected as a member of the municipal council of the city by the opposition. In a 2017 book titled "News from the Front", she documented her experience working with the mayor of the "National Assembly" and what he describes as an oppressive atmosphere created by the far-right administration.
In 2022, he heads the most famous green party in the country, "The Environmentalists".
Rafael Glucksman, "Plas Publik"/Socialist Party
44-year-old Rafael Glucksman headed the list of Socialists for the European elections at the beginning of June. It received nearly 14 percent of the vote, just behind the "Together" coalition. of Macron. It was seen as a sign of a resurgence for the party, which has ruled France several times in recent decades but has recently fallen into electoral oblivion.
Glucksman graduated from prestigious educational institutions and pursued a career in journalism, after which he moved in various directions, including as an adviser to then-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
He advocates strong European support for Ukraine in its resistance to Russian invasion.
Laurent Berger, former trade union leader
55-year-old Laurent Berget is the former head of one of the main trade unions in France - the moderate French Democratic Confederation of Labor. He is an avowed opponent of the "National Assembly".
Berget has said he does not want to be prime minister, but others on the left have floated his name, saying he could be a unifying figure and a popular alternative to Mélenchon.