As the 2026 municipal elections approach, the political landscape in Montpellier is experiencing a new zone of turbulence. The list led by Jean-Louis Roumégas, intended to embody an autonomous ecological alternative, has been weakened by a series of resounding departures. Among them, that of Julia Mignacca, a local figure of political ecology, marks a turning point revealing deeper tensions within the Montpellier left.

A resignation that breaks the lines

On January 26, 2026, Julia Mignacca announced her departure from the Ecologists (Les Écologistes), both locally and nationally, as well as her withdrawal from the Printemps montpelliérain list led by Jean-Louis Roumégas. In a public message, she mentions a deep political disagreement with the party's current strategy.

At issue: a line she deems too vague, even contradictory, particularly regarding alliances. She criticizes an assumed rapprochement with the Socialist Party and the abandonment of a broader rally strategy on the left, particularly with La France Insoumise. For her, this orientation distances political ecology from its social foundations and its ability to respond to climate and social emergencies.

This departure is not an isolated case.

A dynamic of chain departures

In the days that followed, several activists and candidates also left Jean-Louis Roumégas' list. Among them, Kévin Hoareau, a figure of Génération·s in Montpellier, as well as other members involved in the construction of Printemps montpelliérain. All denounce an operation judged too vertical, a lack of strategic clarity, and a political line that has become illegible.

These departures highlight a fracture already perceptible for several months: that between an institutional ecology seeking to fit into an alliance logic centered on the Socialist Party, and an ecology more anchored to the left, seeking a break with urban policies judged unequal.

A realignment around La France Insoumise

In the wake, Julia Mignacca joins the list led by the Insoumise MP Nathalie Oziol. She finds there several figures from Génération·s and other left-wing collectives. This realignment reflects a desire to build a pole clearly positioned on the left, assuming a critique of the municipal record and metropolitan policies carried out for several mandates.

This rallying gives new breath to the Insoumise list, which now presents itself as the main opposition pole to the outgoing majority led by Michaël Delafosse. It also accentuates the isolation of the Roumégas candidacy, whose autonomy strategy appears increasingly fragile.

A crisis revealing tensions in the Montpellier left

Beyond individuals, this political sequence reveals structural tensions. The central question remains that of electoral strategy, but also of the territorial project.

Behind internal disagreements, two visions emerge:

• on one side, an institutional approach, betting on metropolitan management and political compromises;
• on the other, a more critical reading of the effects of metropolization, accused of reinforcing territorial inequalities, accelerating gentrification, and fueling a feeling of downgrading in working-class neighborhoods and peripheral communes.

This fracture echoes broader debates on the rise of abstention and the far right in relegated territories, where the feeling of abandonment and political dispossession is progressing.

A campaign under tension

Less than two months from the vote, these realignments clearly weaken the readability of the traditional ecological offer and reinforce the polarization of local political debate. The Montpellier left finds itself fragmented between several poles, at the risk of leaving the field open to the outgoing majority or a more right-wing realignment.

For voters, the stake now goes beyond partisan quarrels: it is about knowing which project can truly respond to the social effects of metropolization, the housing crisis, the relegation of certain neighborhoods, and the growing democratic distrust.

In this context, the sequence opened by Julia Mignacca's departure appears as a broader symptom: that of a local left in search of political coherence, at a moment when social and territorial fractures have never been so visible.