By revealing details of an internal investigation implicating their celebrated founder Abbé Pierre in sexual assault, the high-profile charities Emmaüs and the Abbé Pierre Foundation are now doing an exemplary job, despite past denials of any problem, argues Mediapart's joint editor-in-chief Lénaïg Bredoux in this op-ed article. The world of sport - notably football and rugby - is also experiencing similarly turbulent times, she says, amid signs that sections of French society are beginning to face up to the issue.

In an interview with Mediapart, French constitutional law specialist Jean-Marie Denquin analyses the implications of centrist MP Yaël Braun-Pivet's re-election as president of the National Assembly on Thursday, when she narrowly beat the Left's own candidate for this prestigious and important post. This was despite the fact that the Left had won more seats than anyone else in the recent elections, while Emmanuel Macron's centre-right alliance itself lost scores of MPs. The academic also outlines the broader challenges facing the Left with the advent of what he calls a “new system” - a parliamentary rather than the previous presidential one - that favours the concentration of power at the centre rather than the extremes. Interview by Fabien Escalona.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy recently insisted that France was now politically a right-leaning country, probably more so than it has “ever been”. However, political scientist Vincent Tiberj disputes the widespread notion that there has been a rightwards shift “from the bottom up” in French society. Instead he prefers to point the finger of responsibility for recent voting patterns at media and political elites, against a backdrop of growing political disengagement among citizens. However, as Mediapart's Fabien Escalona writes, it would be unwise for the Left to seize on this as a reassuring counter-narrative.

As the Paris Olympic Games get closer – the opening ceremony is on July 26th - France's Ministry of the Interior has been stepping up at an unprecedented rate the number of administrative control and surveillance measures on those they see as potential security threats. People's jobs and even their homes are under threat as house arrest orders are placed on individuals who have never been in trouble with the law before – or not for many years. Jérôme Hourdeaux reports.

Mediapart has obtained the rushes, hitherto unseen in public, of a video interview with Ziad Takieddine, a key witness in the probe into the alleged Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential election campaign, in which the Franco-Lebanese business intermediary retracted his earlier testimony detailing how Sarkozy received the cash sums from Tripoli. The video was broadcast as an edited 32-second “exclusive” in November 2020 by French rolling news channel BFMTV, before Takieddine, who had been promised payment, finally disowned his retraction and an investigation into “witness tampering” was launched. The unedited video rushes, published in this report, reveal the extent of the manipulation by BFMTV in operation dubbed “Save Sarko”. Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget report.

In November 2020, a key witness in the French judicial investigation into alleged funding by the Gaddafi regime of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign publicly retracted his testimony. French-Lebanese business intermediary Ziad Takieddine had previously detailed how he brought suitcases of cash from Tripoli to Paris for Sarkozy’s campaign. A separate judicial investigation into “witness tampering” subsequently established that Takieddine had been promised several million euros to retract his allegations. Mediapart can now reveal how, illustrated by a remarkable exchange of phone text messages, the management of France’s rolling news channel BFMTV, which broadcast a video of Takieddine’s retraction, connived with the attempt to undermine the Libyan funding probe. Fabrice Arfi, Karl Laske and Antton Rouget report.

Contrary to many predictions, France’s far-right Rassemblement National party failed to win an absolute majority in parliament in the elections that concluded last weekend. But it nevertheless garnered more votes than any other party or alliance, and numerous observers warn that its support is likely to grow stronger ahead of presidential elections due in 2027. Amid what might prove simply a respite, Mediapart turned to political activists, writers, academics and journalists who live, or have lived, under far-right and populist governments, to hear their views on the situation in France, and which included the advice to prepare for the worst now. Justine Brabant reports.

Emmanuel Macron’s dissolution of parliament destroyed his centre-right party’s previous relative majority, and in the ensuing elections it was overtaken by the broad coalition of leftwing parties, the Nouveau Front Populaire, which now represents the largest bloc in the National Assembly. But despite the credibility the French president has lost with his roll of the dice, and despite the unpopularity of his Renaissance party as expressed in the urns, many among the Macron camp still apparently believe they have the upper hand in French politics, writes Mediapart political affairs correspondent Ellen Salvi in this op-ed article. As difficult negotiations began this week to form a new government, the depleted Macronists have even been lecturing opponents, and notably the Left, on their conditions for supposedly sharing power.

France went to the polls on Sunday in the second and final round of crucial parliamentary elections to elect the members of the French lower house, the National Assembly. The snap elections were called by centre-right President Emmanuel Macron one month ago after the far-right’s resounding victory in France in the voting in European Parliament elections. Macron’s move, in which he hoped to defeat the far-right and diminish his opponents on both the Left and Right, was a gamble that threw the country into turmoil, with the far-right tipped to win an absolute majority after the second round. But after a knife-edge week, it was not to be. Follow the events on Sunday in our live coverage of results and reactions as they came in through the evening, and which saw an alliance of the Left win the day. Reporting by Michael Streeter and Graham Tearse.

The far-right Rassemblement National party hopes to win an absolute majority after the second round of voting on Sunday in France’s parliamentary elections. In this op-ed article, Mediapart’s publishing editor Carine Fouteau examines what is at stake behind Sunday’s poll, and calls on all those still hesitating over their choice at the urns to urgently examine their conscience and prevent the far-right from reaching power.