The League of the South ( French: ''Ligue du Sud''; LS) is a far-right

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

founded by

Jacques Bompard Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

with former members of the National Front in 2010. The party is established in

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

, particularly in the department of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, the department's second most populated

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

, as well as Piolenc, both have League of the South mayors. The party currently has one representative in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

: Marie-France Lorho, who sits for the 4th constituency of

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

(FN), a group of politicians from

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, including

Marie-France Stirbois Marie-France Stirbois (born Marie-France Charles on 11 November 1944 in Paris, died 17 April 2006 in Nice of cancer) was a French National Front politician, representing Dreux from 1989 to 1993, and a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 ...

, and

Patrick Louis Patrick Louis (born 22 October 1955, Vitry-le-François) is a Politics of France, French politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament for the European Parliament election, 2004 (France)#Seats, south-east of France. He is a member ...

, broke away from the FN in 2005 to join the

Movement for France The Movement for France (french: Mouvement pour la France, MPF; ) was a conservative, soft Eurosceptic and Gaullist French political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It was led by Philippe de ...

(MPF). Stirbois died in April 2006 from cancer. Bompard's association L'Esprit Public, which had been involved with the organisation of conferences since 2003, hosted in August 2008 a party conference featuring speakers from various far-right groups the likes of Bernard Antony (AGRIF),

Nicolas Bay Nicolas Bay (born 21 December 1977) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from France. He served as General Secretary of the National Front from 2014 to 2017. He has served as a Regional Councillor for Normandy si ...

( MNR), Jacques Cordonnier ( Alsace d'Abord), Philippe Vardon (Nissa Rebela), Laurent Gouteron (

Bloc Identitaire Les Identitaires (English: The Identitarians), formerly the Bloc identitaire (English: ''Identitarian Bloc''), is an Identitarian movement, Identitarian Nationalism, nationalist movement in France. Like the Nouvelle Droite, French New Right, ...

), or Jeanne Smits (''

Présent ''Présent'' was a French newspaper (published five days a week). The paper was founded in 1982. It was close to the French Front National, and followed a traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, cust ...

''). On 29 January 2010, the League of the South (LS) was officially declared to the ''

Journal Officiel A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

''; the LS list (Front Régional-Nissa Rebela-

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- MNR) won 2.69% of the vote in the 2010 regional election. The following 23 June, a party executive was appointed. In the 2012 legislative election, party president

was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. In the 2014 municipal election, Bompard was reelected Mayor of

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

; his wife Marie-Claude Bompard was reelected in

Bollène Bollène (; Provençal: ''Bouleno'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Bollène is a commune located in the north of the Vaucluse department next to the juncti ...

; Louis Driey was reelected in Piolenc. Camaret-sur-Aigues elected LS candidate Philippe de Beauregard.

Ideology

Leader and former member of the

Jacques Bompard, who has stated his belief in the

Great Replacement The Great Replacement (french: links=no, Grand Remplacement), also known as replacement theory or great replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theoryPT71 disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. The original theor ...

theory, has called resisting against its application a priority. Bompard is also politically close to the national party

Reconquête Reconquête (; en, Reconquest), styled as Reconquête! (R!), is a nationalist political party in France founded in late 2021 by Éric Zemmour, who has since served as its leader. He was a far-right candidate in the 2022 presidential election, ...

, led by

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

presidential candidate and former journalist

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right politician, essayist, writer and former political journalist and pundit. He was an editor and panelist on ''Face à l'Info'', a daily show broadcast on CNews, from 2019 to ...

References

{{French far right Far-right political parties in France Right-wing populist parties