A foreign disinformation campaign has targeted two candidates running in France’s local elections this weekend, a government agency and a security source said on Tuesday – the third foreign attack targeting public figures in recent days.
The campaign targeted lawmakers from the hard-left party France Unbowed (LFI) who are running to become mayors of the southern cities of Marseille and Toulouse. The first round of voting takes place on Sunday.
France’s VIGINUM agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, said it had detected inauthentic looking websites and social media accounts with “foreign technical markers”.
The activity targeted “a French political party and... some of its candidates in the municipal elections in Marseille and Toulouse”, the agency said.
France accuses Russia of election interference using fake website
Targets identified
A security source told the French news agency AFP the MPs were Sébastien Delogu and François Piquemal.
“Investigations to clarify the exact origin are still underway,” the source added.
Marseille prosecutors said they had opened a defamation investigation, after Delogu filed a complaint.
An online blog claiming to be written by a former associate described “how Sébastien Delogu hurt me and destroyed my life”.
Posters with a QR code linking to the blog – which was no longer accessible on Tuesday – were pasted around Marseille, according to photos taken by Delogu’s team and sent to AFP.
French daily Le Monde reported the blog was connected to “a network of fake accounts” on the social media platform X that usually promotes messages from the pro-Israeli lobby European Leadership Network (ELNET), which is registered in France. The report said the network had also targeted Piquemal.
France's local elections promise a preview of 2027 presidential poll
Political reaction
Both LFI lawmakers are outspoken critics of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Delogu said on Tuesday he had faced “indecent and defamatory accusations” since the start of his campaign because of his positions on the Palestinian territories and domestic French issues.
“I am being targeted by the far-right Israeli government because I have denounced the ongoing genocide in Palestine, for having defended international law, and because I speak out against all forms of corruption that are damaging our city and our republic,” he said.
“Two far-right governments are targeting me – the United States and Israel.”
France accuses Russia of election interference using fake website
"They're targeting a young man from the working-class neighbourhoods of Marseille who wants radical change for his city and who is denouncing the ongoing genocide."
Delogu received a two-week suspension from France’s lower house of parliament in May 2024, after waving a Palestinian flag during a heated debate on the creation of a Palestinian state.
Piquemal called on the judiciary to “shed light on all the ins and outs of these malicious acts”.
“This is not the first time we've faced threats and online harassment from Israeli far-right groups,” he said.
Earlier this month, VIGINUM accused a Russian group linked to military intelligence of foreign interference after it targeted Pierre-Yves Bournazel, a centre-right candidate in the Paris mayoral race, using a fraudulent website.
(with AFP)
