Jean-Luc Mélenchon calls on the Socialist Party to "react" after comments by the Socialist candidate in the partial legislative election in Paris

Frédérique Bredin, Socialist candidate in the by-election in the ^2nd constituency of Paris, described La France Insoumise (LFI), along with the far right, as "great dangers" on Sunday, August 31. In response, Jean-Luc Mélenchon called on the Socialist Party (PS) to "react" to "insulting discrimination."

"Whether it's the extreme right or the extreme left in the 'rebellious' sense, (...) I don't want it," declared the former sports minister under François Mitterrand on Radio J, believing that if these political camps do not have "exactly the same values," they are "both great dangers."

"In the event of dissolution, the 'rebels' will not be allies," the candidate declared during her interview, adding that she hoped "we would fight against all extremes." "We need a social-democratic, progressive, humanist left, which is neither the pro-Putin, anti-Semitic far left, nor the pro-Putin far right either," she added.

"A returning PS candidate in Paris goes on Radio J to insult LFI ," the "insoumis" leader lamented on X, adding: "The PS must react. This insulting discrimination would make any unity of action or vote against the RN [National Rally] impossible . "

"Will Olivier Faure [first secretary of the Socialist Party] condemn this absolutely unacceptable position taken by his candidate? Or is equating La France Insoumise with the far right now the official line of the Socialist Party?" also protested LFI national coordinator Manuel Bompard on X.

LFI announced in a press release on Friday, August 29, that it would not be running in this constituency, "as provided for in the 2024 NFP [New Popular Front] agreement ." ^Ms. Bredin is a candidate with the endorsement of the Socialist Party and the support of the Ecologists.

In this election, the first round of which is scheduled for September 21 and a possible second round on the 28th, she will face former Prime Minister Michel Barnier (Les Républicains, LR), whose path was cleared on Thursday with the withdrawal of his rival within the party, Rachida Dati . In exchange, the Minister of Culture obtained the involvement of LR in the campaign for Paris City Hall in March 2026.

Jean Laussucq, a former colleague of ^Ms. Dati, won the capital's ^2nd constituency, spanning the ^5th , ^6th , and ^7th arrondissements, in July 2024. He sat in the Renaissance group before seeing his election invalidated by the Constitutional Council on July 11 for irregularities in his campaign accounts.