France’s right-wing National Rally party made significant gains in the country’s first round of elections on Sunday, putting centrist President Emmanuel Macron and his supporters on edge.
Early projections suggest that the National Rally, led by Marine Le Penhas a good chance of winning a majority in the lower house for the first time, with an estimated majority of a third of the vote in the first round, almost double the 18% in the first round in 2022.
French polls indicated that Macron’s grouping of centrist parties could finish a distant third in the first round of voting. Their predictions put Macron’s camp behind both the Rassemblement National and a new left-wing coalition of parties that joined forces to prevent Le Pen’s anti-immigration party from forming possibly the most conservative government since World War II.
However, the final outcome of the election remains uncertain and the decisive vote will take place on Sunday, July 7.
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Earlier this month, Macron dissolved parliament and called for a surprise vote after Rassemblement National defeated his party in the European Parliament elections. The move was seen as a risky gamble that French voters, complacent about the European elections, would be motivated to back moderate forces to keep Rassemblement National out of power.
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Many French voters are frustrated by inflation and other economic concerns, as well as Macron’s leadership, which is seen as arrogant and aloof. Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party has responded to that discontent, particularly through online platforms like TikTok, and has led in pre-election opinion polls.
Paris voters had issues from immigration to the rising cost of living on their minds as the country has become increasingly divided between right-wing and left-wing blocs, with a deeply unpopular and weakened president at the political center.
Le Pen called on voters to give the National Rally an “absolute majority” in parliament. She said a majority would give the National Rally the right to form a new government with a party leader Jordan Bardella as Prime Minister to work on the ‘recovery’ of France.
“After historic victories for conservatives in the EU elections a few weeks ago, France today reaffirmed the dramatic shift we are seeing in Europe away from the failed left-wing playbook in favor of a common-sense conservative agenda that focuses on lower taxes, a crackdown on illegal immigration and support for freedom of expression,” Matt Mowers, founder of the EU-US Forum and former State Department official, told Fox News Digital. “Today’s results serve as another important message to bureaucrats in Brussels: Europeans want conservative policies and leaders.”
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Turnout on Sunday was an unusually high 59% three hours before polls closed, 20 percentage points higher than turnout at the same time in the last first round of voting in 2022.
The first polling forecasts came out after the last polls closed, with early official results expected later on Sunday.
The second round of voting next Sunday will be more decisive, but doubts still remain over how Macron will share power with a prime minister hostile to most of his policies.
In a National Rally victory scenario, Macron would be expected to appoint the party’s leader, 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, as prime minister in an uneasy power-sharing arrangement known as “cohabitation.” Although Macron has said he will not step down until his presidential term ends in 2027, cohabitation would weaken him both at home and on the world stage.
The results of the first round will provide a clear picture of voter sentiment, but not necessarily of the overall composition of the next National Assembly. Predictions are difficult because of the complicated voting system and because parties will work between rounds to build alliances in some constituencies or withdraw from others.
Bardella, who has no experience in government, said he would use his prime ministerial powers to stop Macron from continuing to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons for the war with Russia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source original article: Macron is on edge as France’s right-wing Rassemblement National party gains momentum in the first round of elections
