Long-divided left-wing parties in France will march into forthcoming legislative elections largely together, after the Socialist Party agreed late Thursday to join a new coalition of the left that hopes to limit re-elected centrist President Emmanuel Macron 's room for policy-making in his second term.
The Socialists join the Greens and the Communist Party in hooking their wagon to the France Unbowed party of hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He placed third in the presidential election in April, just short of the run-off won by Macron. But Mélenchon hopes his showing will be a springboard for the left to win big in the National Assembly elections in June.
