Left Party (France)

Left Party
Parti de Gauche
Founded December 2008
Ideology Socialism,
Left-Republicanism,
Ecologism
European affiliation Party of the European Left
European Parliament Group European United Left-Nordic Green Left
Official colours Red and Green
Seats in the National Assembly
3 / 577
Seats in the Senate
2 / 343
Seats in the European Parliament
1 / 72
Seats in Regional Councils
17 / 1,880
Website
http://www.lepartidegauche.fr/
Politics of France
Political parties
Elections
Constitution of France
Parliament; Government; President

The Left Party (Parti de gauche, PG) is a French democratic socialist political party. It seeks to emulate the German political party Die Linke led by Gesine Lötzsch and Klaus Ernst.

Contents

History

It was founded in November 2008 by former Socialist Senator Jean-Luc Mélenchon and deputy Marc Dolez and others dissidents of the party together with the MARS movement (Mouvement pour une Alternative Républicaine et Sociale - Movement for a Republican and Social Alternative).

They had left the PS five days earlier, in protest of the result of the Reims Congress vote on motions, where the leftist motion they supported won only 19%.

They were joined after by other members from the left of the Socialist Party, by people who hadn't been members of a political party before and by dissidents from the Green Party following the deputy Martine Billard.

Elected officials

Around ninety local elected officials (municipal, regional and general councillors), including two municipal councillors in Paris, have also joined the party.

Action

The party has met with trade unions such as the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques, CGT-FO, and Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens.

In the 2009 European Parliament election, the party will run as part of the Left Front with the French Communist Party and the Unitarian Left.

Popular support and electoral record

The PG has not yet ran independently in an election, so its base of support is hard to pin-point.

European Parliament

European Parliament
Election year Number of votes  % of overall vote # of seats won
2009 1,115,021 6.47%[1] 1[2]

Previous Logos used by the Left Party

References

  1. ^ Results of the Left Front which includes the larger French Communist Party
  2. ^ Of the 5 Left MEPs, 1 is a member of the PG

External links