French hard-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) has been gearing up for a potential early presidential elections in France, campaigning to secure elected officials’ sponsorships, which is mandatory for candidates to enter any national ballot.
In France, the sponsorship system requires each presidential candidate to collect 500 endorsements from elected officials to qualify for the vote. It was designed to prevent an overwhelming number of hopefuls putting their names forward.
In a January 8 letter addressed to elected officials nationwide, LFI co-ordinator Manuel Bompard emphasised the likelihood of President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation.
“The resignation of the President of the Republic is likely and, in my view, necessary to return to democracy the power to decide the crucial choices that need to be made,” Manuel Bompard wrote.
Under the current political situation, Bompard argued that the successive fall of prime ministers appointed by Emmanuel Macron, the latest being Michel Barnier on December 4, was inevitable.
“The dissolution of the National Assembly and the subsequent governmental choices made by the President have led to a deadlock in the normal functioning of the institutions,” Bompard said.
“The censure of the Barnier government was inevitable, and the same is true for the Bayrou government.”
Bompard underscored that the French Constitution prevented new legislative elections before next July. He said only an early presidential election could pull the country out of its state of uncertainty and political crisis.
Macron’s resignation, should he step down, would trigger a new election within 20 to 35 days.
Anticipating that, LFI has been urgently seeking sponsorships. “We will need to quickly gather the five hundred signatures required to present a candidate,” Bompard stressed.
His letter was accompanied by a form for elected officials to pledge their support for an LFI candidate in the event of an early presidential election in 2025.
The party remained vague about who the candidate might be for this hypothetical race but many have said they believed it would be the leader and founder of the party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
LFI is not the only opposition party to have been preparing for early elections.
Hard-right National Rally de facto leader Marine Le Pen’s statement on December 17 said she was also getting organised for an early ballot.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister François Bayrou have been suffering from plummeting public confidence. https://t.co/SB4k22RbW7
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 10, 2025
