Why You Should Pay Attention To Jean-Luc Mlenchon And The French Election – Huffington Post

It wouldnt be a French presidential election without high drama. And Jean-Luc Mlenchon, the 65-year-old leftist candidate who has unexpectedlysurged in the polls in recent weeks, is rejiggering the state of the race and complicating matters for his three rivals.

Mlenchon, once a distant fifth place in the polls, this week was polling at 20 percent, beating the scandal-ridden conservative Franois Fillon by 1 percentage point, according to an Ipsos-Sopra Sterna poll for Le Monde newspaper. Centrist Emmanuel Macron was tied in the lead with far-right leader Marine Le Pen at 22 percent.

Mlenchon, a self-proclaimed populist who likens himself to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and idolizes Venezuelas Hugo Chavez and Cubas Castro brothers, joined the Socialist Party in the 1970s and later became a senator.

He said in 2008 that he saw himself as the person who would reinvent the left in the face of a crisis of capitalism.So, he formed his own Party of the Left, but abandoned it to form another party in 2016: La France insoumise, which translates to a France that wont bow down. He drew inspiration from populist anti-liberal movements, like the Spanish Indignados.

France has always had a history of radical thinking, which for a long time originated from the Communist Party, Roger Martelli, a historian specializing in communism, told HuffPost France. When that party fizzled, Jean-Luc Mlenchon espoused that radicalism, but without ascribing to communist thinking.

Sylvain Lefevre via Getty Images

Mlenchon, a skilled orator whose newfound popularity has been attributed by many to animated performances in the last few debates, has rested his campaign on the abolition of Frances system of government, the Fifth Republic. He aims to create anew republicdefined by the people and not the oligarchy now in control, according to his website.

Hes also proposing a 100 million-euro (about $106 million) economic stimulus; a Frexit from the European Union; a NATO pullout; dropping the retirement age to 60; and a 32-hour work week. He wants to tax those who make more than 400,000 euros a year, or $425,000, at 90 percent.

The irony is that voters drawn to Mlenchons populist views could, in a sense, be supporting much of what they would get from a candidate on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum.

Le Pen is a populist herself. Shes more of a hard-liner when it comes to immigration and terrorism. But like Mlenchon, shes committed to bringing jobs back to the French and withdrawing from the European Union and international treaties. Both Le Pen and Mlenchon have suggested they would hold referendums to let the people of France weigh in before taking action.

Mlenchon has tried repeatedly to refute these supposed similarities.

Im not a nationalist, he told Le Point magazine in reference to Le Pen. Im a patriot. Im prepared to negotiate with other countries, not shut France in.

A first round of voting will take place April 23. The second round, which will whittle the race down to two candidates, happens on May 7.

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Why You Should Pay Attention To Jean-Luc Mlenchon And The French Election - Huffington Post