Macron calls snap election after far-right victory in EU vote

President Emmanuel Macron stunned France on Sunday when he called snap parliamentary elections after his centrist alliance was trounced by Marine Le Pen’s far-right movement in a European parliamentary vote.

Exit polls showed the far right National Rally (RN) secured about 33 of the vote compared to 15 per cent for the French president’s centrist alliance, a stinging blow to the French president.

“For me, who always considers that a Europe united, strong, independent is good for France, this is a situation which I cannot countenance,” he said. “I have decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future with a vote.”

The first round of the parliamentary election will be held in just three weeks, on June 30th, with a run-off on July 7th.

The shock dissolution is an extraordinary gamble by the French leader who already lost his parliamentary majority after winning a second term as president two years ago. His centrist alliance could be crushed, potentially paving the way for a possible “cohabitation” with the far right if they won a majority of seats.

Mr Macron said he believed a vote was needed to calm the volatile debates in the French parliament and achieve clarity on the direction of the country. Elysée officials said he had been considering it for some time.

Ms Le Pen celebrated the victory and hailed Mr Macron’s response to it. “This shows that when the people vote the people win,” she said in a victory speech. “I can only salute the president’s decision to call early elections... We are ready to exercise power if the French give us their backing.”

RN has 88 seats out of 577 in the National Assembly, making it the biggest opposition party. Mr Macron’s centrist alliance has 249.

There have been two previous cohabitations – when a president has to share power with a prime minister and government from the opposition – since the fifth republic was founded in 1958.

In Sunday’s European Parliament election, the RN came in far ahead of all other parties in France. Mr Macron’s centrist alliance came a distant second with 15 per cent, narrowly avoiding a humiliating third place behind the centre-left, who won some 14 per cent.

The margin of victory could lend huge momentum to Ms Le Pen’s ambition to succeed Mr Macron has president in 2027. Mr Macron’s decision to call snap elections may be a high-stakes attempt to thwart her advance.

“This is a severe defeat for Macron given that he has been president for seven years and he has long said his goal is to combat the far right,” said Bruno Cautrès, an academic and pollster at Sciences Po in Paris.

The loss came after Mr Macron had argued that the very future of the EU was at stake because of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, economic competition with the US and China, as well as the need to fight climate change – all topics on which he said the far-right could not be trusted.

Yet the message appeared to not to move French voters, who have historically used European elections as protest vote against the incumbent president.

“Given that Emmanuel Macron has sought to position himself as the intellectual leader of Europe, the fact that French voters don’t follow him is problematic for him,” added Mr Cautrès.

Early voting estimates showed the RN’s list, led by the charismatic 28-year old party chief Jordan Bardella, had won almost as many votes as the combined total of Mr Macron’s alliance, led by a little-known MEP Valerie Hayer, and the traditional parties of the centre-right and centre-left.

“In according more than 30 per cent of their votes to us, the French have delivered their verdict and marked the determination of our country to change the direction of the EU,” said Mr Bardella in a speech from his campaign headquarters. “This is only the beginning.”

The results show the rising popularity of the RN since 2019 when they won 23.3 per cent of the vote in the last European elections, coming in only slightly ahead of Mr Macron’s list which took 22.4 per cent.

In addition to the RN’s big win, another far-right party Reconquête was estimated to win around 6 per cent of the vote.

Mr Bardella’s social media savvy and polished messaging has broadened their appeal with slices of the electorate, such as white-collar workers and retirees, who had historically rejected the RN as too radical. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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