Early political career In 2006, Panot became involved in the
nationwide movement protesting the
First Employment Contract. There, she became a member of the
Sustainable Development, Spatial and Regional Planning Committee. In October of 2017, Panot called for the creation of commissions of inquiry into public authorities' response to
Hurricane Irma as well as France's role in the 1987 assassination of
Thomas Sankara. Panot is an advocate for "popular environmentalism" and led
La France Insoumise's "Phase out nuclear for 100% renewables" campaign in 2018. In this role, she organized a nationwide poll on whether France should
discontinue its use of nuclear power. The vote saw 314 530 individuals turn out online or at one of 2 000 in-person polling stations between 11 and 18 March 2018. 93 percent of respondents ultimately voted in favour of phasing out nuclear power, leading Panot to introduce a bill on the matter in the National Assembly. Panot was the LFI candidate for president of the National Assembly following the appointment of incumbent
François de Rugy to the
second Philippe government, ultimately losing the election to
Richard Ferrand on 12 September 2018. She also participated in a 2018 parliamentary inquiry into workplace safety at France's nuclear energy facilities, which found evidence of poor working conditions for the sector's 160 000 subcontractors. Panot introduced a bill to address this problem in September of 2019. On 4 June 2019, she protested the National Assembly's reduction of speaking time and amendment rights for minority parties by gagging herself with a scarf at the Assembly rostrum. Panot was unanimously elected the first vice-president of the
La France Insoumise group in the
National Assembly on 18 June 2019. In September, she launched a "citizens' commission of inquiry into alternative
forest management practices" alongside
Reporterre journalist Gaspard d'Allens. The commission's work culminated in a bill that would ban
clearcutting of forested areas larger than two hectares. The legislation was introduced to the Assembly on 22 July 2020 and was co-sponsored by the
Ecology Democracy Solidarity,
Communist,
Agir Ensemble and
Liberties & Territories groups. On 1 October 2019, Panot was arrested in
Béjaïa,
Algeria and removed to
Algiers after meeting with local politicians and activists involved in
Hirak. While rising to speak in the National Assembly on 2 February 2021, she was called a "fishwife" (
poisonnière) by
Renaissance deputy
Pierre Henriet. Panot described the insult as "sexist abuse" and Henriet was subsequently fined a quarter of his parliamentary allowance for one month. In 2021, Panot led a parliamentary inquiry on the consequences of private control of water resources in
Guadeloupe, where one in four residents lack daily access to safe drinking water. She questioned the government on the situation on 29 June and presented the inquiry's final report on 15 July following its unanimous approval by the members of the investigatory commission. The online publication
Blast praised the commission for its "considerable work" on the report but commented that it had still "failed to definitively answer the questions at hand, with each [actor responsible for the distribution of water in Guadeloupe] blaming the other" for the lack of safe drinking water. According to the
regional financial court, the true culprit of the crisis was the Intercommunal Water and Sanitation Agency's "ludicrous" management of Guadeloupe's water resources. In December of 2021, Panot and two other deputies brought the case in front of the
Defender of Rights, alleging that the French state had "violated [Guadeloupeans'] right to water." Panot also worked with several political, civil and labour organizations to hold a nationwide poll on enshrining the
right to water and sanitation in the
Constitution of France, protecting water resources and prohibiting their monopolization by multinational corporations in 2021. Of its 294 912 respondents, 99.61% voted in favour of the measures. A 2022 study by the environmentalist group ''Agir pour l'environnement
ranked Panot and Delphine Batho as the deputies who voted most in favour of protecting the Earth and combating climate change during the 15th legislature. The report was publicized by several major media outlets but was also criticized for bias by L'Express''.
President of the La France Insoumise group Panot succeeded
Jean-Luc Mélenchon as the president of the LFI group in the National Assembly on 12 October 2021, becoming the youngest deputy to ever lead a parliamentary group. In June of 2022, she introduced a bill that would enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution and pushed for the legislation alongside deputy
Aurore Bergé and senators
Mélanie Vogel and
Laurence Rossignol. This goal was achieved when the
Congress of the French Parliament ratified Article 34 of the Constitution in March of 2024, which guarantees a woman's "freedom to voluntarily terminate her pregnancy." During the
2022 French legislative elections, Panot was one of 15 candidates to win their races with an absolute majority of the vote in the first round. She was one of 11 La France Insoumise nominees to do so and recorded one of the highest vote shares in her party. Panot was also re-elected as president of the LFI parliamentary group and, in October of 2022, named secretary of the party alongside national coordinator
Manuel Bompard and treasurer Maxime Charpentier. Following President
Emmanuel Macron's dissolution of the National Assembly, Panot was re-elected as deputy in the
2024 French legislative elections with 59.27% of the vote in the first round. == Controversies ==