He may not have won the battle, but he could still win the war, reports The Washington Post.
At first glance, Jean-Luc Mélenchon — the far leftist who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the French presidency this year — may seem something of a caricature. The 66-year-old Trotskyite often says nicer things about President Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela than about the European Union, and his condemnations of capitalism are regular fare on his popular YouTube channel or via hologram, as he appeared at election rallies throughout France.
But the Mao-jacketed Mélenchon is far more than a cartoon character. He is now the de facto leader of the opposition to President Emmanuel Macron and his sweeping, pro-business agenda. While Macron’s popularity has plummeted to record lows since the election, Mélenchon’s has remained consistently high. According to one poll in April, the anti-NATO protectionist is among the most esteemed figures in French political life, with an approval rating of 68 percent.
Earlier this year, the success of Macron and his centrist coalition was widely heralded as the dawn of a new era in French and European politics: a period that replaced the age-old partisan divide of left and right with one that pitted globalists against populists. But this new landscape has proven fertile ground for Mélenchon and his followers. Against Macron’s centrist platform, a muscular, unapologetic far left is on the rise — and it shows no signs of compromising or evaporating.
With 19 percent of the vote, Mélenchon did not qualify for the second and final round of the French election in May. He also won only 17 of 577 parliamentary seats for his newly founded political party, La France Insoumise, “France Unbowed,” in the legislative elections that followed. But three months into Macron’s tenure, Mélenchon has nevertheless emerged as the sharpest and most important critic of the new president and his policies.