At the founding conference (6 to 8 February 2009), 630 delegates voted on a series of documents, which had gone through a long process of amendment and re-amendment in local and regional assemblies.

Delegates to the Council are elected at the congress on a proportional basis, ensuring the representation of different tendencies or platforms.

[7] Olivier Besancenot has said that the party will be "the left that leads anticapitalist, internationalist, antiracist, ecologist, feminist struggles, opposing all forms of discrimination".

Such issues as the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan, a rise in the minimum wage and public services, however, are accepted by all members of the NPA.

The majority of militants emphasize the dangers of allying with forces which are likely to end up in joint local or national governments with the Socialist Party (PS).

Discussions were held in the course of 2009 with other parties to the left of the PS, concerning the possibility of joint slates for the regional elections in 2010.

Since its foundation, the NPA has suffered a number of breakaways, and by the beginning of 2015 total membership had declined to 2,100, compared with 9,200 at the time of its Founding Conference in February 2009.

In addition, failure to reach the required level of support in the presidential and parliamentary elections has deprived the party of state funding, leading to a financial crisis.

In December 2013, the Revolutionary Marxists faction in the Fourth International declared the Anticapitalism and Revolution current in the NPA and criticized the reformist orientation of the party.

[10] In June 2021, almost 300 members of the Revolutionary Communist Current faction (Courante Communiste Révolutionnaire, CCR) left the party after being excluded from participating in the NPA congress and national conference, and the rejection of the pre-candidacy of CCR member Anasse Kazib as the NPA nominee for the 2022 French presidential election.

[16] It has been announced as of 11 December 2022 that the NPA's majority would follow the lead of the most prominent figures in the group, like Philippe Poutou, Olivier Besancenot, Christine Poupin and Pauline Salingue.

[17] The NPA announced in February 2010 that it was fielding Ilham Moussaïd, a Muslim woman, as its candidate in Avignon for that year's regional elections.

We need to concentrate on what unites us, on the fight for equality between men and women, and not to say we should all dress the same way, that you can't wear a headscarf because otherwise you're not a feminist.