Re-election at the Lille congress

The 40th congress of the French Communist Party (PCF) opened on Friday 3 July in Lille and closes on Sunday. The main business was the re-election of national secretary Fabien Roussel, who has led the party since 2018 and was last re-elected in 2023. In a closed-door vote on Sunday morning, delegates backed his single list of 162 members for the national council with 70.1% of the ballots. The outcome was never in doubt: Roussel faced no organised opposition and had already secured a comfortable re-election as mayor of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux in March.

“The choice of the comrades honours me and commits me.”

Presidential ambitions

Roussel used the congress to advance his bid for the 2027 presidential election. He told delegates on Friday that he was ready to lead the campaign again if the party chose him. The congress adopted a leadership text, approved by militants in early June against three alternative motions, which asserts that communists have full legitimacy to carry a unifying candidacy from their own ranks. Roussel later said the militants had chosen combat and ideological battle over withdrawal and erasure.

“I said that I was ready, if you decided, to lead this fight with you once again.”

Militant vote in September

The next formal step is a vote by party militants on 6 September 2026 to designate the PCF's presidential candidate. Roussel is the overwhelming favourite. In the 2022 election he won 2.28% of the national vote, a result that drew criticism from La France Insoumise but did not deter his ambitions. The leadership text calls for the party to assert its own candidate rather than subordinating itself to a broader left-wing alliance, a stance that could complicate efforts to build a unified left-wing ticket for 2027.

Party direction and next steps

Roussel framed the congress outcome as a choice for ideological combat over retreat. The congress closes later on Sunday with Roussel expected to formally confirm his presidential bid. The 2027 election is less than a year away, and the PCF's decision to field its own candidate could reshape the dynamics of the French left. The party's leadership hopes that a distinct communist candidacy will allow it to reclaim political space lost in recent cycles.