PARIS, May 20 - French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Wednesday that prosecutors are conducting an inquiry into an alleged campaign of foreign interference directed at a hard-left political party in the run-up to the March municipal elections.
Nunez said the suspected operation targeted at least three mayoral candidates from the France Unbowed party (LFI). He described the matter as "extremely grave" when questioned by one of the affected lawmakers, Francois Piquemal, and said authorities were probing the activity.
According to the account given to officials, the campaign used deceptive websites and social media accounts to level allegations of criminal behaviour against candidates, alongside digital advertisements intended to disparage them. French electoral safety authorities produced a report on the alleged operation, and Nunez pledged to publish that document in full.
The vow to release the report came a day after satirical and investigative outlet Le Canard Enchaine said there were efforts under way to bury the document. Nunez committed to making the electoral safety authority report public despite those reports of suppression attempts.
French investigators suspect the campaign was carried out at least in part by a little-known firm identified as BlackCore, which authorities link to Israel. Officials have been unable to independently establish who was behind BlackCore, verify its location, or find any listing for the company in Israeli corporate records.
Repeated attempts to contact BlackCore via a website and a LinkedIn page went unanswered; both the website and the LinkedIn page were later taken offline, according to the account provided to authorities.
Context and next steps
Nunez's statements confirm that a formal judicial inquiry is under way and that the government intends to publish the electoral safety authority's findings in full. The investigation will determine the origins and mechanics of the alleged online campaign and whether outside actors were involved in activities that targeted specific candidates ahead of the municipal elections.
At this stage, authorities report gaps in the corporate trail for BlackCore and a lack of responses from the firm to outreach efforts. Prosecutors are continuing their probe into the matter.