[1] The party's result in the subsequent legislative elections was similarly middling: though it outpaced the projections of pollsters, which placed it between only 5 and 15 seats,[2] it still fell short of the threshold of 20 deputies, then required for the formation of a parliamentary group in the National Assembly.

[3] During the evening of 17 June, the second round of the legislative elections, Buffet issued an appeal to form an "open" group to carry the "people's voice" in the National Assembly, singling out the Greens (VEC) as a potential target.

[4] Recognizing the predicament of the PCF, ecologist deputy Noël Mamère proposed that evening that the four members of the Greens elected in the legislative elections join the communist deputies in order to provide the necessary support to form a political group in the National Assembly,[3] saying that he believed that the Green deputies accept the opening proposed by Buffet, hoping to sit along the PCF and others on the left in an "autonomous group" in the National Assembly, independent of the Socialist Party (PS); he later added that his invitation was also extended the Movement of Citizens of Jean-Pierre Chevènement, the Radical Party of the Left (PRG), and miscellaneous left.

Discussions between Mamère, PCF deputy Patrick Braouezec, and miscellaneous left deputies including Gérard Charasse were briefly initiated with the apparent support of the leadership of the PCF, which sought to strengthen its position in the assembly and diminish troublemakers within it ranks; however, these ultimately came to no avail, with Bocquet believing that an alliance with the Greens would be unfeasible during the debates of the Grenelle de l'environnement and legislation proposed as a result.

Though the PCF continued to petition for a lowering of the bar for a parliamentary group from 20 to 15 deputies, the necessary change of regulation required the assent of a majority of the National Assembly, then controlled by the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

[13] Maxime Gremetz was expelled from the group on 12 April 2011 after interrupting a parliamentary meeting about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and subsequently resigned from his seat on 16 May.