PARIS (AP) — French president Emmanuel Macron warns voters against choosing the far right or far left as their divisive policies increase the risk of political “conflict and civil war” ahead of the first round of crucial parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Macron said that both the far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed offer poor answers to “real problems” because they “respond in some way by increasing conflict and civil war.” He spoke in an interview with the French podcast “Generation Do It Yourself,” released on Monday.
Macron called early elections after his centrist alliance’s defeat in European Union elections earlier this month. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
“When you are tired of everything, when everyday life is difficult, you can be tempted by extremes that have quicker solutions. But the solution will never lie in rejecting others,” Macron said.
He claimed that the National Rally policy, which was elaborated on Monday by party chairman Jordan Bardella, would “lead to a civil war” and “be an impoverishment program because it costs several thousand euros in hidden taxes every day and makes it impossible to pay pensions.” to pay and employees well.”
The far-left France Unbowed is encouraging tensions between communities for electoral purposes, he claimed, arguing that it also amounts to a “civil war” because it “reduces people to their religious or ethnic group.”
Polls show the outcome of the early elections remains uncertain amid a complex voting system and potential alliances. Macron supports both the National Rally and the New Popular Front, a coalition of extreme to center-left parties that also includes France Unbowed.
