In the parliamentary elections, the right-wing Rassemblement National emerged as the strongest force, with the left-wing alliance coming second and the Macronists coming only third.
Protest in Paris on the Place de la Republique against the election victory of the Rassemblement National on Monday evening Photo: Louise Delmotte/AP/dpa
PARIS rt/dep | Three weeks after the European elections France Right-wing populists again achieved a clear election victory. The right-wing Rassemblement National (RN) emerged as the strongest force in France’s first round of early parliamentary elections. The party of Marine Le Pen together with its allies received 33 percent of the votes, according to the official final results published on Monday. The left-wing alliance came in second with 28 percent.
The president’s centrist camp Emmanuel Macron, who did not stand for election himself, received 20 percent of the votes on Sunday, the Ministry of the Interior in Paris announced. However, the exact distribution of seats in the National Assembly will only be decided after the second round of elections this Sunday.
“The far right is on the threshold of power,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal admitted in Paris on Sunday evening. According to some predictions, the RN could win a relative or absolute majority after the second round on July 7.
President Emmanuel Macron called for a “broad, democratic and republican alliance” in the face of the electoral success of the right-wing populists. The high turnout in the elections shows the “will to clarify the political situation,” the president stressed.
Serious defeat for Macron
Attal announced the withdrawal of about 60 candidates in the second round to prevent right-wing populist candidates from winning. It is unlikely that the RN will get “a single vote” in the second round, he said.
“We have seven days to save France from a catastrophe,” said Socialist politician Raphaël Glucksmann of the Left Alliance. The Republicans – without their renegade party leader Eric Ciotti – are at 10 percent. Voter turnout was a whopping 65 percent, significantly higher than in 2022 at 48 percent.
Former RN party leader Marine Le Pen called on her supporters to give her party an “absolute majority” in the next round. The Macron camp has been “practically wiped out,” said Le Pen, who was elected in her constituency in the first round. Party leader Jordan Bardella already sees himself as the future “prime minister of all French people.” The 28-year-old announced that he would be “loyal to the constitution, but unyielding.”
Left-wing populist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon called the result a “serious and indisputable defeat for Macron”. He explained that his party La France Insoumise (LFI) would also withdraw some candidates to prevent RN candidates from winning.
Experts expect more political instability
French experts warned of a permanent political crisis in light of the election results. “The danger is becoming increasingly real that France will end up in a situation without a parliamentary majority,” said Jacob Ross of the German Council for Foreign Relations (DGAP). Political instability will increase, he added.
The distribution of the 577 seats in the National Assembly will only become clear after the second round of elections. In the first round, 39 MPs from the RN were elected, and 32 MPs from the New Popular Front electoral alliance were able to win directly. To be elected in the first round, candidates not only need an absolute majority of votes, but this must also correspond to a quarter of registered voters.
If the RN wins an absolute majority, France will probably experience a fourth society in which the president and the prime minister belong to different camps. However, the ideological differences would be greater than ever before.
The RN came to power with an anti-European and xenophobic programme. The party has also promised huge electoral gifts, some of which it has already softened. In concrete terms, the party wants to reduce the French contribution to the EU, impose a limit on immigration, restrict the freedom of movement of non-EU foreigners and introduce professional bans for French people with dual nationality. One of the first measures is to reduce VAT on gas and fuel. The abolition of the pension reform should only happen later.