The NUPES (New Ecological and Social Popular Union) list, led by La France Insoumise (FI), is seen by left-wing workers and youth as the best vehicle to strike blows against the right in June’s legislative elections. The French Marxists critically support voting for NUPES candidates. But we must say that this alliance with discredited, right-wing reformist parties risks demobilising FI’s support base, and will undermine their ability to carry out social reforms in government, in the event of an NUPES majority.

As the Lebanese elections draw to a close, it is clear that a major shift is taking place in the balance of power. The March 8 Alliance, a coalition of Hezbollah, Haraket Amal, and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, has lost the majority they have held since 2018. They were reduced from 71 seats, which gave them a majority, to 58 seats, whilst the opposition Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) surged forward. Alongside the two traditional sectarian opposition parties, a new wave of independent candidates has also broken through. Thirteen independent candidates won seats under a broad banner called ‘Change’.