Split from Socialist Party | Membership (2014) 9,000 | |
 | ||
Coordinators Eric Coquerel & Danielle Simonnet Founded February 1, 2009; 8 years ago (2009-02-01) Headquarters 20–22 rue Doudeauville, 75018 Paris Ideology Democratic socialism
Left-wing populism
Environmentalism
Alter-globalization
Soft euroscepticism | ||
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 Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger.
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.
In November 2013, the PG joined the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
Co-presidents and co-founders Mélenchon and Billard stepped down from office in 2014. Since its 2015 congress, the party is led by its coordinators and spokespersons Eric Coquerel and Danielle Simonnet.
Elected officials
Around 90 local elected officials (municipal, regional and general councillors), including two members of the Council of Paris, initially joined the party. This number has dropped since then.
Popular support and electoral record
The PG has not yet run independently in an election, so its base of support is hard to pin-point.