Three-time French presidential candidate and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Wednesday said he is "capable" of becoming the country’s next prime minister should a leftwing union win a majority in the snap legislative elections set for June 30 and July 7. His statement was met with a cool response from some coalition allies amid concerns that Mélenchon is too divisive to lead the left.
"I don’t rule myself out but I don’t impose myself," Mélenchon, the founder of the hard-left La France insoumise (France Unbowed or LFI) party, said about the possibility of becoming prime minister during an appearance on France 2 television. France’s president selects its prime minister, but the premier usually hails from the party with a majority in the National Assembly.
