Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ lyk ɑ̃twan pjɛʁ melɑ̃ʃɔ̃] ^ⓘ; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the La France Insoumise group in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2021. Mélenchon has run three times in elections for president of France; in 2012 and 2017, and a strong third in the 2022 election, where he narrowly missed continuing on to the second round in France's two-round voting system.

Quick facts: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Member of the National As... ▼

Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Mélenchon in 2022
Member of the National Assembly
In office 21 June 2017 – 21 June 2022
Preceded by	Patrick Mennucci
Succeeded by	Manuel Bompard
Constituency	Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th
President of LFI Group at the National Assembly
In office 27 June 2017 – 12 October 2021 (4 years, 3 months and 15 days)
Vice President	Mathilde Panot
Preceded by	Group creation
Succeeded by	Mathilde Panot
Constituency	15th legislature of the French Fifth Republic
Member of the European Parliament
In office 14 July 2009 – 18 June 2017
Constituency	South-West France
Member of the Senate
In office 1 October 2004 – 7 January 2010
Constituency	Essonne
In office 2 October 1986 – 27 April 2000
Constituency	Essonne
Minister delegate for Vocational Education
In office 27 March 2000 – 6 May 2002
Prime Minister	Lionel Jospin
Preceded by	Claude Allègre
Succeeded by	Luc Ferry
Personal details
Born	Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (1951-08-19) 19 August 1951 (age 72) Tangier, Tangier International Zone
Political party	La France Insoumise (since 2016)
Other political affiliations	Internationalist Communist Organisation (1972–1976) Socialist Party (1976–2008) Left Front (2008–2016) Left Party (since 2009)
Alma mater	University of Franche-Comté
Website	Official website European Party website

After joining the Socialist Party in 1976, he was successively elected a municipal councillor of Massy (1983) and general councillor of Essonne (1985). In 1986, he entered the Senate, to which he was reelected in 1995 and 2004.[1] He also served as Minister for Vocational Education between 2000 and 2002, under Minister of National Education Jack Lang, in the cohabitation government of Lionel Jospin. He was part of the radical-left wing of the Socialist Party until the Reims Congress of November 2008, when he left the party to found the Left Party with Marc Dolez, a member of the National Assembly.[2][3] Mélenchon first served as party president before becoming party co-president alongside Martine Billard, a position he held until 2014.[4] As co-president of the Left Party, he joined the electoral coalition of the Left Front before the 2009 European Parliament election; he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the South-West France constituency and reelected in 2014. He became the Left Front's candidate in the 2012 presidential election, in which he came in fourth, receiving 11.1% of the first-round vote.

Mélenchon founded the party La France Insoumise (LFI, "France Unbowed") in February 2016. He stood as a candidate in the 2017 presidential election "outside the frame of political parties", again coming in fourth, with 19.6% of the first-round vote. He became a member of the National Assembly for La France Insoumise following the 2017 legislative election, receiving 59.9% in the second round in Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency, located in Marseille (France's second-largest city).[5] Mélenchon stood again under the LFI banner in the 2022 presidential election, coming in third with 21.95% of the vote, just over one point short of qualifying for the second round.[6] After this, he led the newly-formed New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) alliance of parties to a second-place performance in the 2022 French legislative election.