French far-right leader Marine Le Pen reacted during a meeting with supporters and reporters on Sunday after releasing projections based on actual vote counts in specific constituencies in Hernin-Beaumont, northern France.
Thibault Camus/Associated Press
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Thibault Camus/Associated Press
PARIS — Pollsters expect the far-right National Rally to take a big lead in the first round of France’s legislative elections on Sunday, bringing the party closer to being able to form a government in the run-off and challenge centrist President Emmanuel Emmanuel Macron dealt a heavy blow.
Macron is betting that anti-immigration parties with historical ties to anti-Semitism will not repeat France’s fate after a crushing defeat at the National Assembly on June 9 in France’s elections to the European Parliament.
But that’s not the case. French pollsters projected that Sunday’s national rally and its allies had secured about a third of the national vote, with Prime Minister Macron warning that if voters did not turn out, France could end up with its first far-right government since World War II. Let’s work together to prevent that from happening in the second round next Sunday.
“The far right is already standing on the doorstep of power,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said. He twice described the National Assembly’s policy commitments as “catastrophic” and said that in the second round, “not a single vote should go to the National Assembly. France does not deserve this.”
French pollsters’ forecasts show Macron’s centrist party finishing third in the first round of voting, behind the National Rally and a new coalition of left-wing parties that have joined forces to prevent it from winning power.
A parliamentary majority would allow national rally leader Marine Le Pen to appoint her 28-year-old protégé Jordan Bardera as prime minister and cap off her years-long effort to make her party less ostracized by mainstream voters. Plastic efforts come to an end. She inherited the party, then known as the National Front, from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was repeatedly convicted of racist and anti-Semitic hate speech.
Still, the national rally is yet to come. It’s another week of intense campaigning ahead of a decisive final vote next Sunday, with the election’s final outcome still uncertain.
Addressing a cheering crowd waving France’s blue, white and red flag, Le Pen called on her supporters and voters who did not support her party in the first round to push the party over the line and secure legislative votes. an absolute majority. The situation would force Bardera and Macron into an awkward power-sharing arrangement. Macron, who was first elected in 2017, said he would not step down before his second term expires in 2027.
“The French have almost wiped out the Macronist group,” Le Pen said. She added that the results showed voters were “willing to turn the page after seven years of defiance and corruption of power.”
Early official results show some notable successes for the far right. Le Pen herself was one of six national rally candidates to win outright in France’s once highly industrial Pas de Calais region in northern France, taking more than 50% of the vote in her constituency on Sunday, meaning they won. Round voting. National assembly candidates are also leading in all of the region’s six other regions heading into the second round.
Magali Quere, a 54-year-old voter in Le Pen’s constituency, said she once found the far right scary, “but not anymore.”
Only a second round of voting will tell whether Le Pen’s party and her allies have secured the absolute majority needed to easily form a government and then begin fulfilling their pledge to dismantle many of Macron’s key policies and foreign policy platforms. This would include preventing France from sending long-range missiles to Ukraine in a war against a full-scale Russian invasion. National rallies have historical ties to Russia.
A more confrontational approach to the EU by the far right, plans to delay Macron’s pension reform and national rallies promising to boost voters’ spending power without making clear how that promise will be delivered are also likely to unsettle European financial markets .
Opponents rallying across the country fear civil liberties will be affected if it takes power. Macron himself has warned that the far right could put France on the path to civil war. Its plans to increase police powers and curb immigration have also alarmed many, including minorities. The national rally has long been hostile to France’s Muslim communities.
“People don’t understand that this will affect us for many years. This is a France of growing hatred, not a France of unity and unity,” said Cynthia Fefoheio, 19, a political science student. On the evening of the same day, thousands of people gathered in the Place de la République in Paris to protest against the national rally.
Some pollster forecasts suggest that in the far-right’s best-case scenario, the National Rally and its allies could collectively clear the 289 seats needed for a safe majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.
But pollsters predict it could also fall short, with no single group likely to end up with a clear majority. Predictions are difficult because of the two-round voting system.
Far-right opponents were already strategizing on Sunday night about how to concentrate votes in a second round of national rallies, planning to pull their candidates out of some areas to add another candidate to defeat a far-right rival. Chance.
Polls estimated turnout at at least 66%, reversing nearly three decades of declining voter interest in France’s first round of legislative elections. That so many people voted, especially as many were getting ready to start or had already started their traditional summer vacation, showed how the fast-paced campaign and its high stakes galvanized voters. Many voters saw an opportunity to impose their government on Macron, condemn his presidency and force a change of course.
Many voters are frustrated with inflation and other economic problems, as well as Macron. National rallies have capitalized on this discontent, particularly through online platforms such as TikTok. It has touted the rising cost of living and immigration. The campaign has been marred by an increase in hate speech.
“People don’t like what’s going on,” said Cynthia Justine, 44. People are angry. I am angry.
“This is even more important because I am a black woman. On this day, a lot is at stake,” she added.
National rallies question the citizenship rights of people born in France and want to restrict the rights of French citizens with dual nationality. Critics say it undermines human rights and poses a threat to France’s democratic ideals.
Speaking at election celebrations in Herning-Beaumont, Le Pen’s stronghold, 41-year-old Edouard Guillebot said the success of the far right had been long overdue.
“This is the people’s revenge against the media and the political elite,” he said. “I’m one of those people who voted for everyone. They lied to us and told us immigration was an opportunity for this country.
