Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Jean-Luc Mélenchon

MP
Jean-Luc Mélenchon; MP
Member of the National Assembly; for Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency
	In office; 21 June 2017 – 21 June 2022
Preceded by	Patrick Mennucci
Succeeded by	Manuel Bompard
Member of the European Parliament
	In office; 14 July 2009 – 18 June 2017
Constituency	South-West France
Minister of Vocational Education
	In office; 27 March 2000 – 6 May 2002
Prime Minister	Lionel Jospin
Preceded by	Claude Allègre
Succeeded by	Luc Ferry
Senator
	In office; 1 October 2004 – 7 January 2010
Succeeded by	Marie-Agnès Labarre
Constituency	Essonne
	In office; 2 October 1986 – 27 April 2000
Constituency	Essonne
Personal details
Born	Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon; 19 August 1951 (age 72); Tangier, Tangier International Zone
Political party	La France Insoumise (since 2016)
Other political; affiliations	Internationalist Communist Organisation (1972–1976); Socialist Party (1976–2008); Left Front (2008–2016); Left Party (since 2009);
Alma mater	University of Franche-Comté
Website	Official website; European Party website

Jean-Luc Mélenchon (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃.lyk me.lɑ̃.ʃɔ̃]; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician. He was a member of the National Assembly of the French Republic. He ran for President of France twice: he finished in fourth place in 2012 and 2017, then in 2022, he came in third.

Political career[change | change source]

In 1976, he was elected municipal councilor of Massy (1983), general councilor of the Essonne departement (1985), and senator of the same department (1986, reelected in 1995 and 2004). He also served as Minister-Delegate of Vocational Education between 2000 and 2002, under the Minister of National Education, Jack Lang, in the cohabitation government of Lionel Jospin.

As leader of the Left Party, he joined the electoral coalition of the Left Front before the 2009 European elections and was elected member of the European Parliament in the South-West constituency (reelected in 2014).

Presidential politics[change | change source]

During the protest movement against the pension reform of 2010 his public stature grew thanks to his many public and television appearances. He was also the candidate of that coalition in the 2012 presidential election, at the outcome of which he came in fourth, receiving 11.1% of the votes. He was a candidate in the 2017 presidential election "outside the frame of political parties", and founded the movement "Unsubmissive France" (FI) in February 2016.^[1]^[2] He came in fourth place winning 19.5% of the vote.

He ran for the presidency again for the 2022 election, coming in third place winning 21.95% of the vote.