When the New Popular Front coalition, which brings together the Left and far left, came out on top in the French parliamentary elections, it was accompanied by the election of MPs with antisemitic or violent profiles. One of them, Raphaël Arnault, beating out the Rassemblement National (RN) candidate in Provence, is on the ‘S list’—which means that he is considered a threat to state security.
Raphaël Arnault heads the Jeune Garde ‘anti-fascist’ movement and stood as a candidate in the Avignon constituency for the New Popular Front coalition. For several weeks, he has been identified by the right-wing press as a dangerous person on the ‘S list’ (with an ‘S’ for security)—a category drawn up by the internal security services to monitor individuals posing potential threats to state security. This classification applies, for example, to individuals suspected of terrorist activities, or to members of ‘antifascist’ movements, known—and sometimes convicted—for acts of violence. There are currently around 30,000 people on the S list in France; a third of them because they belong to the Islamist movement.
Raphaël Arnault stood against an RN candidate in the second round of the legislative elections. The right wing tried in vain to draw voters’ attention to the danger of this candidate.
“I’m calling for a wake-up call in the face of the worst. The leader of an antisemitic group must not enter the National Assembly,” tweeted RN president Jordan Bardella ahead of the second round. On the Left, the socialist mayor of Avignon had initially supported the candidacy of a leftist candidate without a party label against Raphaël Arnault, judging that the latter “represented an ultra-violent left with which she did not identify”—before finally rallying to the support of Arnault between the two rounds.
The formation of the ‘republican front’ to prevent the election of a member of Marine Le Pen’s party played right into Raphaël Arnault’s hands. The concentration of votes from the Left and centre enabled him to be elected with a comfortable lead over his opponent—55% to 45%. Locally, Arnault’s constituency is an island of the Left in a sea of RN constituencies.
The movement that Arnault presides over, the Jeune Garde, openly campaigns against the Right and is prepared to resort to violence. Arnault recently boasted that no journalist had any proof of the existence of an S file on him. Our colleagues from the right-wing investigative newspaper Frontières provided evidence of this on Tuesday, July 9th, when they exclusively revealed his S file.
It shows that Arnault is considered “dangerous” and “likely to engage in violent acts.” His real name is Raphaël Archenault, and he has three S files to his name. He was previously given a four-month suspended prison sentence in 2022 for violence in a group.
His election as a member of parliament for the New Popular Front obviously raises serious ethical issues. This is a first in French parliamentary history. As an MP, he will have access to sensitive files on internal security issues. It is all very well for the press to castigate the dubious nature of certain candidates from the RN, but none of the people elected from the RN on the evening of July 7th are currently on file as dangerous to state security.
On the evening of his election, Arnault proudly tweeted: “anti-fascism enters the Assembly.” To date, there is no procedure in place to challenge his election.
