Socialist Party torn apart over veiled candidates in 2026 municipal elections

According to Charlie Hebdo , during the Socialist Party's summer university in Blois, a conference on secularism gave rise to a heated debate surrounding the issue of veiled candidates in the 2026 municipal elections. MP Jérôme Guedj, former national secretary of the Socialist Party for secularism, warned against the possibility of veiled women candidates on socialist lists in the event of an alliance with the Greens or LFI. He urged his comrades to reject them: "We will certainly have veiled women candidates on the lists. This could come from the Greens or LFI." According to him, accepting these candidates "will be a choice of singularization in relation to other left-wing forces."