Overconfident Macron plays with fire and loses again from far right
The French president wanted to give his people a chance to change their minds and wipe out Rassemblement National's resounding victory three weeks ago in the European elections with a revival of his alliance Ensemble. But that's turning out all wrong. France is also voting far-right in these legislative elections brought forward by Macron himself. And that causes even more problems for the overconfident French president.
A whopping 66.7 percent of the 50 million eligible voters went to vote in France. That is at once the highest turnout in 40 years. And the French are now continuing the trend of the European elections at home as well: the far-right Rassemblement National gained 33.1 percent of the vote, while Marcon's alliance Ensemble managed to convince only 20 percent of French people. Nouveau Front Populaire, the left-wing front, became the second party with 28 percent.
Rassemblement National, formerly known as Front National, could deliver the prime minister for the first time. Jordan Bardella has his sights set on that post, with the support of party figurehead Marine Le Pen. But for that to happen, it still needs to get through the second round of voting smoothly.
Victory not yet secured
Next week the second round of elections will take place, and only then will we know what the distribution of seats will really look like. The French vote in 577 local districts, each of which sends one elected representative to parliament. Candidates who can convince at least 12.5 percent of the electorate in the first round of voting are allowed to go to the next round. The winner in the second round gets to go to parliament.
Exit Macron?
So for now it remains to be seen how the French will vote in the second round, especially if a front were to be established against the far right. And Marcon can actually remain president at least until 2027 and just keep doing his job until the next presidential election. But the legitimacy and credibility of the proud head of state will be for sure increasingly eroded.... So wait and see how he would deal with that!
(SR for Tagtik/Source: Reuters - EPA/Picture by Jacques Paquier licensed under CC BY 2.0)
