French far-left presidential hopeful woos voters' senses
ABC News
Far-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon is seeking to reinvigorate his flagging campaign for April’s election with an unusual rally
NANTES, France -- Far-left French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon sought Sunday to reinvigorate his flagging campaign for April’s election with an “immersive and olfactory” rally, using videos, sounds and smells diffused through an exhibition hall.
The unusual event in the western city of Nantes came as the once-powerful French left wing is deeply fractured and struggling to make its voice heard in a campaign where far-right and conservative figures have grabbed most of the attention so far.
According to his campaign platform, Melenchon wants the French government to guarantee jobs for everyone, pull out of NATO, disobey EU rules, legalize cannabis, renationalize some businesses, block energy price rises, hike taxes on multinationals and rich households and spend more on fighting racial and other discrimination.
He promised that Sunday’s rally would be a “positive” event at a time marked by political hostility. But Melenchon — a political firebrand with a notorious temper — is also divisive, and refuses to form a united front with other left-wing candidates against centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who's expected to seek re-election.
