France’s high-stakes legislative election propelled the far-right National Rally to a solid but non-decisive lead in Sunday’s first-round vote, polling agencies estimated, and another slap in the face for President Emmanuel Macron.
Speculation has suggested that Macron’s risky decision to call voters back to the polls for the second time in three weeks appears to have backfired.
French polling agencies said Macron’s coalition with the leading parties could finish a distant third in the first round of voting. Those numbers put Macron’s camp behind both Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and a new left-wing coalition of parties that have come together to keep his party’s anti-immigration and historic anti-Semitic links from forming France’s first right-wing government since. World War II.
But with another tough week of campaigning ahead of the final vote next Sunday, the final outcome of the election remains uncertain.
Macron urged voters to unite against the right in the second round.
Addressing a cheering crowd waving French tri-flags of blue, white and red, Le Pen urged her supporters and voters who did not back her party in the first round to push her over the line and give her a legislative majority. In that case, 28-year-old Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, will become prime minister. Macron, who has said he will not step down before his term expires in 2027, will be forced into a grim power-sharing arrangement known as “coexistence” in France.
However, the National Rally is still not there.
Although polling agency projections gave it nearly a third of the national vote on Sunday, it remains unclear how the party’s gains will translate into actual seats in the second round.
Some polling agency projections indicated that in the best case scenario, the National Rally and its allies could jointly clear the 289 seats needed for a secure majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. That could destabilize European financial markets, affect Western support for Ukraine and the management of France’s nuclear arsenal and the world’s military.
But, depending on how the second round turns out, the far right may come up short, without one bloc getting a clear majority, polling organizations predict. Predictions are difficult because of the two-round voting system, and because parties will work between rounds to consolidate in some constituencies or exclude others. The first official results of the first round were expected later on Sunday.
Many French voters are frustrated by inflation and other economic concerns, as well as by Macron’s leadership, which is seen as arrogant and out of touch with their lives. The National Rally team has tapped into that dissatisfaction, especially with online platforms like TikTok.
Voters in Paris had issues including immigration and the rising cost of living on their minds as the country grew increasingly divided between far-right and far-left blocs, with a president deeply unpopular and weak in the political center. The campaign was marred by an increase in hate speech.
“People don’t like what’s going on,” said Cynthia Justine, 44. “People feel that they have lost a lot in recent years. People are angry. “Shut up.” He added that with “hate speech on the rise,” we needed to express our frustration with those in power and those seeking power.
He said it is important as a woman to vote since women have not always had that right. And “because I’m a black woman, it’s very important. There is a lot at stake this day.”
Macron called the first election after his party was nominated in the European Parliament elections in early June by the National Rally, which has historic ties to racism and xenophobia and is hostile to France’s Muslim community. It also has historical ties with Russia.
Macron’s call was a gamble that French voters who had been apathetic in the European elections would be motivated to seek moderate forces in the general election to avoid a general election.
A 64-year-old voter, Philippe Lempereur, expressed fatigue with politicians from the left, right and center and what he called their inability to work together on issues such as ensuring that people have enough food and shelter. “We’re voting automatically, on the worst option,” he said. “I’d rather vote than do nothing.”
Bardella, who has no executive experience, says he will use the power of prime minister to stop Macron from continuing to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine in a war with Russia.
The National Rally has also questioned the right to citizenship for people born in France, and wants to reduce the rights of French citizens with dual citizenship. Critics say this undermines human rights and is a threat to France’s democratic ideals.
Meanwhile, massive public spending pledges by the National Rally and especially the left-wing coalition have shaken markets and eased concerns over France’s high debt, already criticized by EU watchdogs.
In the troubled French Pacific region of New Caledonia, voting closed early due to a deadline that authorities extended until July 8. Violence broke out there last month, leaving nine people dead, over Macron’s government’s efforts to amend the French Constitution and change the vote. list, Kanak natives fear will marginalize them again. They have been wanting to break away from France for a long time.
Voters in the other French overseas territories of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and French Polynesia, as well as those who vote in open offices at embassies and diplomatic posts across the United States cast their ballots on Saturday. .
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