A TV scenarist would have written that plot, we would have thought it’s not realistic, especially that part on the right wing, with that posh lady (Ms Pecresse, head of the Parisian region) rolling up her sleeve to kick traitor Ciotti out.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Meanwhile, on the left, a co-operation agreement has been struck and parties seem intent on putting their differences behind them — but tensions still crackle between two star figures, in terms of both personality and issues including Ukraine and Gaza.

Opinion polls and analysis of last Sunday’s results suggest a united left and a strengthened far-right National Rally could wipe the pro-Macron coalition off the map — meaning that the president’s only chance of avoiding a crushing defeat is to bet on divisions among his opponents.

Doubling down, Ciotti posted a video of himself in his office set to an epic soundtrack, claiming he was going “back to work for France.” Several French commentators on social media compared his defiance to Al Pacino’s bloody last stand in the movie Scarface.

Two years ago, the four main left-leaning parties — the Communists, Socialists, Greens and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed (LFI) movement — agreed to run a united left-wing front, allowing them to more than double their total in the National Assembly and block Macron from securing a majority.

The coalition imploded after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack against Israel, when LFI’s three former partners said they could no longer work with the leftist movement due to its reluctance to label Hamas as a terrorist group.

Unlike the pro-Macron camp, led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, and the National Rally, which is backing Bardella to head the government, the left is avoiding the question of leadership for now.

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