It was founded in November 2008 by former
Socialist senator
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, deputy
Marc Dolez, and other dissidents of the party together with the '
movement (', "Movement for a Republican and
Social Alternative"). They had left the PS five days earlier, in protest of the result of the
Reims Congress vote on motions, where the leftist motion they supported won only 19%. They were joined after by other members from the left of the
Socialist Party, by people who hadn't been members of a political party before, and by dissidents from the
Green Party following the deputy
Martine Billard. In 2010 the PG was accepted into the
Party of the European Left. In November 2013, the PG joined the international
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Co-presidents and co-founders Mélenchon and stepped down from office in 2014. Since its 2015 congress, the party is led by its coordinators and spokespersons
Éric Coquerel and
Danielle Simonnet. On 2 July 2018 the party withdrew from the Party of the European Left, disagreeing with the presence of the Greek left-wing party
Syriza in the alliance. The party advocates
eco-socialism as an alternative to capitalism, stating that:
La Meute, an investigative book published in 2025 by journalists Charlotte Belaïch and Olivier Pérou, reports alleged autocratic and cult‑like tendencies within the party—claims of intolerance to dissent and strong influence by
Mélenchon and partner
Sophia Chikirou. The movement's leaders pushed back, but critics and former insiders gave weight to the allegations. In June 2025, it was reported by
Le Monde that the
Nouveau Front Populaire (New Popular Front) – an electoral alliance of LFI,
Socialists,
Greens, and
Communists – is facing internal divisions, even as it attempts to unify the left. ==Elected officials==