Léon Deffontaines (born 15 March 1996, in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

) is a French politician from the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. In 2013, he joined the Young Communist Movement of France and was its general secretary from 2019 to 2023. Deffontaines was spokesperson for

Fabien Roussel Fabien Roussel (; born 16 April 1969) is a French politician who has served as national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF) since 2018. He was the party’s candidate in the 2022 French presidential election where he placed eight in ...

during the

2022 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a Two-round system, runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. ...

, he is designated

lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Neth ...

for the communists for the 2024 European Parliament elections in France.

Biography

Léon Deffontaines was born on . He is the son of a florist and a psychologist and comes from a family of farmers.. In 2013, he joined the Young Communist Movement of France. In 2014, when he was 18 years old and a high school student in his economic and social final year, he was a candidate for the 2014 municipal elections in

''.''. Deffontaines began studying law and political science, as well as education, and took on multiple odd jobs. He was then a member of a homework help association for young people in difficulty in sensitive areas of the city of Amiens and intended to become a teacher. His first years of communist activism were marked by the struggle of employees at the Goodyear site in Amiens, whose closure in 2014 led to the dismissal of more than 1,100 people, and the mobilizations against the reforms of

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

.. He was elected federal secretary of the Young Communist Movement in the Somme in 2016, and was then elected general secretary in 2019 and stayed at this position until June 2023. Deffontaines was spokesperson for

during the

. In June 2023, while he is spokesperson for the French Communist Party, he is expected to head the communist list during the 2024 European Parliament elections in France. It is also envisaged that it will be in first position for the communists in the case of a common list with other parties. On 1 July 2023, he was designated, by the national council of the PCF, the

for the communists for the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

. In the

2024 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...

, he was the candidate of the

New Popular Front The New Popular Front ( , NFP) is a broad Left-wing politics, left-wing electoral alliance with centre-left politics, centre-left and far-left politics, far-left factions in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French leg ...

in Somme's 3rd constituency. He came in third place.

Work

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deffontaines, Léon 1996 births Living people 21st-century French politicians People from Amiens French Communist Party members