European federalist movement Volt presents 22 candidates for French parliamentary election

4 months ago 12

After winning five MEPs in the recent European elections, the Volt party is putting forward 22 candidates for the legislative elections in France, particularly in constituencies reserved for French citizens living abroad, hoping to help counter the far-right surge.

At a time when the legislative elections on 30 June and 7 July are likely to see an unprecedented surge of the far-right coalition gathered around the Rassemblement national (RN), the Volt European federalist movement wants to promote “pro-European, progressive and ecological” ideas.

“We are running in constituencies that the RN does not seem to have the resources to win, and we are calling on people everywhere to block far-right candidates in the second round”, explained Sacha Courtial, Volt’s candidate in the constituency for French nationals living abroad covering Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Volt obtained modest results in the 2022 French parliamentary elections, winning barely over 12,000 votes and no seats, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. The movement says it has 24,000 members in the 27 countries of the European Union.

“We want to present a European front in France, to explain that we need to strengthen democracy within the European Union, in particular by increasing the powers of the Parliament”, Courtial said.

The members of the movement voted on 24 June to remain in the Green group in the European Parliament, although the five Volt MEPs, two from the Netherlands and three from Germany, had been approached to join the liberal Renew group.

Created in 2017 in the wake of Brexit and the rise of populism, Volt is organised as a federation of national parties with the same name and programme in all EU countries.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]