The French left is aiming for a comeback against Macron in parliamentary elections

France’s first left-wing coalition in 25 years has set out to block centrist President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for pro-business reforms by winning a large chunk of seats in this month’s general election.

Hard left arsonist Jean-Luc Melenchon narrowly missed the second round of April’s presidential election but is determined to stage a rematch if he leads the newly formed New People’s Ecological and Social Union (NUPES) coalition into battle.

The alliance, which includes Melenchon’s France Unbowed (LFI) party and the Greens, Communists and Socialists, hopes to thwart Macron’s domestic political agenda, particularly the plan to raise the retirement age to 65.

“Nothing was decided in the presidential election,” Melenchon told around 100 supporters in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, a small town south of Paris, on Tuesday.

Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen by 58.55 percent of the vote in the second round, but Melenchon and his allies argue that many voters backed Macron in the second round just to prevent the far-right from taking power.

Immediately after the second round, Melenchon urged voters to elect him prime minister by handing him a majority in the general election, a two-round election on June 12-19.

A majority of seats for NUPES would force a clunky ‘living together’ – where the Prime Minister and President are from different factions.

For the past two decades, elected presidents have avoided such a scenario and have been rewarded with a majority of the 577 seats in the lower house of the National Assembly.

But an opinion poll released on Thursday shows Macron’s Allianz Ensemble (Together) gaining between 260 and 300 seats, possibly missing the outright majority that needs 289 seats.

According to the Ipsos Sopra Steria poll, NUPES could win between 175 and 215, making the left-wing coalition the main force of opposition to Macron.

“There is a need for change,” said a Socialist councilor who asked not to be named at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois meeting.

“The NUPES in power would bring a breath of fresh air – the voice of the working class, of the youth,” she added.

The meeting with Melenchon in Essonne, held in a park surrounded by council housing, aimed to rally support for NUPES candidates in a department where the parties now part of the coalition failed to win constituencies in 2017.

“He (Melenchon) speaks from the heart, he gets straight to the point,” Ali, 52, who asked that his last name not be used, told AFP. He lives in the area and defines himself as “an immigrant but also French”.

“What we offer is a different vision of the world, of society,” Melenchon told his supporters in Paris last week.

“I’m not saying we’re going to create paradise overnight, but I guarantee we’ll put an end to hell right away,” he added.

The French perceive Melenchon to have “all the criteria of a populist candidate: a demagogic-tinged discourse that appeals to them,” said Jeremie Peltier, study director at the Paris think tank Jean Jaures Foundation, in a report.

“Jean-Luc Melenchon is a Gallic Chavez,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire recently told the French daily Le Figaro, referring to Venezuela’s late leader Hugo Chavez.

The former Marxist came under fire this week for tweeting “the killing of the police” after officers shot dead a woman in a car in north Paris on Saturday after the vehicle failed to stop when called by officers.

But Melenchon defended his comments and congratulated himself for sparking debate about the use of force by police in France through what he said was a deliberately provocative tweet.

Criticism of Melenchon has also come from the left, particularly from some of his former socialist colleagues – despite the presence of the Socialist Party (PS) in the coalition.

Melenchon left the PS in 2008 to found his own movement, the Left Party, and his rise to the left was a bitter pill for some in his former party, which clung to left-leaning policies at odds with Melenchon’s radical brand .

As part of a “low-intensity campaign,” the abstention will play a crucial role in the vote, said Vincent Tiberj, a political sociologist at Sciences Po Bordeaux University.

“When an election fails to mobilize people, it affects those who vote occasionally – like the working class and youth – and thus the voters of the far-right National Rally and NUPES,” he added.