Clémentine Autain, a leftwing MP for Seine-Saint-Denis, is campaigning for a united left alliance to prevent the far right from winning the French presidency in 2027. Speaking at a market in Sevran, a low-income suburb north of Paris, she argued that only a left coalition behind a single candidate can defeat Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which is polling at its highest ever levels.
Autain, 52, has announced she will run in a cross-party primary race next year to become the left’s presidential candidate. She faces competition from Green leader Marine Tondelier and northern MP François Ruffin, while the Socialist party will also participate. However, veteran leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon and centrist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann have refused to join the primary, potentially splitting the vote.
Autain is known for her staunch leftwing policies, including higher taxes on billionaires and better public services. She was expelled from Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise last year after questioning its strategy and co-founded a new movement, L’Après. Her unusual background includes singing Abba covers in a children’s pop group at age 10 and a memoir about her alcoholic film star mother, now adapted into a film.
Her maternal grandfather, André Laffin, was a co-founder of a far-right party with Marine Le Pen’s father in the 1960s. Autain said she feels an urgent need to fight the far right, possibly influenced by this family history. She called for an end to “the melancholy of the left,” urging unity to overcome recent electoral defeats and secure a place in the presidential runoff.
