Far-right appears to dominate French election
The National Rally party has defeated its rivals in the first round of voting in France’s National Assembly, according to early predictions, pushing its long-taboo nationalist, anti-immigration politics to the brink of power.
Pollsters’ forecasts, which are generally reliable, show the party will get about 34% of the vote, well ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ennahda party and its allies, which won about 21%. Forecasts show the left-wing coalition winning around 29% of the vote.
The results of the two-round election, which will lead to run-offs between the main parties in each constituency on July 7, do not provide an accurate prediction of the number of parliamentary seats each party will receive. But now it seems likely that the national assembly will become the biggest force in the House of Representatives, even if it doesn’t necessarily have an outright majority.
The result represents a serious setback for Macron, who is betting that his party’s humiliating defeat by the National Assembly in recent European Parliament elections will not be repeated. His decision to hold elections just weeks before the Paris Olympics surprised many French people, especially his own prime minister, who was kept in the dark.
What’s next: Macron has called for “a big, clear democratic and republican alliance” to win the second round of voting, but he has struggled to assemble a stable coalition.
analyze: Both France and the United States face nationalist forces that threaten to renege on their international commitments and lead the world into uncharted territory.
Iran’s general election enters runoff stage
Iranian voters used Friday’s presidential election to express their dissatisfaction with Iran’s clerical system of rule, trudging to the polls with record low votes, helping two candidates struggle to advance to a runoff.
The final choice will be between reformist former health minister Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. Both won more than 50% of the vote, meaning a runoff will be held on July 5 to determine who will tackle challenges such as Iran’s troubled economy and the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East.
The campaign was notable for candidates openly attacking the status quo, but the turnout reflected pessimism about the change the new president could bring: their rule must be supported by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei final approval.
Here’s more about the original candidates, plus four takeaways from this election.
A series of suicide bombings in Nigeria
At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of suicide bombings in Nigeria on Saturday afternoon, all carried out by women, which also occurred at weddings and funerals, local officials said.
The blasts are similar to attacks by Boko Haram, whose militants have killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria and whose aggression in the region has displaced more than 2 million people. Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped thousands of teenage girls, forced them into marriage and forced them to carry out suicide attacks on schools, markets, religious buildings and large gatherings.
As of yesterday afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack.
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During his tenure as president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte promised authorities would exempt the killing of drug users and traffickers. Police and vigilantes immediately executed tens of thousands of people.
In the two years since Duterte left office, there has been little legal reckoning with the wave of killings. Now, many in the Philippines want the International Criminal Court to take some action against Duterte.
conversation starter
Japan’s first same-sex dating reality show
On July 9, Netflix launched Japan’s first same-sex dating reality show “Boyfriends,” which tells the story of nine men living in a luxurious beach house outside Tokyo. Japan lags behind other wealthy democracies on LGBTQ rights, and while public sentiment there has shifted in favor of gay and transgender people, they are still sometimes subject to discrimination and hate speech.
Ohta, the show’s executive producer, said he wanted “a realistic depiction of same-sex relationships” rather than the exaggerated, stereotypical gay characters often depicted on Japanese television.
The atmosphere is healthy and mostly chaste. Sex rarely comes up, and friendship and self-improvement are as important as romance. Whether the show will lead to wider acceptance of Japan’s LGBTQ community remains to be seen.
