France’s political future was up in the air on Thursday as the far right surged in the polls, but other forces fought to the end three days before a high-stakes parliamentary vote.
Depending on the outcome, President Emmanuel Macron could be left in a tense “cohabitation” with a prime minister from an opposing party, or with a chamber unable to forge a stable majority for at least a year to govern the EU’s second-largest economy and top military power.
Polls show that voters will give Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) more than 35 percent of the vote in Sunday’s first round, with the left-wing alliance trailing with 29 percent and Macron’s centrists trailing with around 20 percent.
When he called the midterm poll after a mishandling of the June 9 European elections by the RN, Macron had hoped to offer voters a stark choice on whether to hand France over to the far right.
But the lightning-fast three-week campaign “would not be able to reverse the major trends,” Brice Teinturier, deputy director of pollster Ipsos, told Le Monde newspaper, adding that the “RN bloc is incredibly powerful.”
Even France’s seasoned pollsters are struggling to translate that basic level of support into an end result as the July 7 runoff runoff — which many expected to be a three-way battle — will see voters test their loyalty and new alliances can see change from laziness. form.
A higher than normal turnout could also change the mood.
About two-thirds of eligible voters plan to cast their ballots, which would be the highest level since 1997.
On Thursday, polling firm Harris Interactive Toluna predicted 250 to 305 of the 577 seats for the RN – giving it an outright majority – while Ifop-Fiducial suggested the party could reach 260.
Le Pen was already making plans for an absolute majority and a RN government leader. He told the daily Telegramme that the president’s title as commander-in-chief of the armed forces was “an honorary title, because it is the prime minister who calls the shots.”
Therefore, “the president will not be able to send troops to Ukraine,” she added, undercutting his warning to Moscow that France would keep all options on the table to thwart Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
Her candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, has already pledged not to send long-range missiles and other weapons to Kiev that could strike Russian territory, in a reversal of Macron’s policy.
The RN has also said it will not agree to form a government without an absolute majority, leaving open the possibility that no political force will be able to keep a prime minister in place.
– Last gasp –
Hoping to exceed expectations, current incumbent Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who months ago was appointed France’s youngest-ever Prime Minister by Macron, will face RN leader Bardella and the leader of the Socialist Party in a TV debate on Thursday evening. Party Olivier Faure.
It is one of the last chances to convince voters, as the campaign will be officially suspended on Saturday and during the voting on Sunday.
Candidates had failed to deliver a decisive blow during an earlier broadcast on Tuesday.
Attal hammered home his message in central France on Wednesday during his three-week campaign, asking voters to reject a RN that “stigmatizes” parts of the population and a left-wing alliance that he says is sectarian.
Bardella could try to clarify some of his plans for voters’ pockets, after struggling to explain how to reverse Macron’s unpopular increase in the retirement age or shape a policy to free the under-30s assessment of income tax.
He was forced to say on Wednesday that “of course there would be a cap” on the income tax exemption after being challenged over whether French star striker Kylian Mbappe’s multi-million salary would go untaxed.
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