It is the story of an accident that could have been disastrous for France. Emmanuel Macron, who announced the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9, counted on the split of the left, exposed in the European election campaign, and the New Republican Party’s obstacle to winning the second round against the far right, France24, cited by Radar.
Three weeks later, the rejection he faced, the consolidation of the left and the wave of national integration, resulted in results contrary to those imagined by the President for the first round of the previous legislative elections: his presidential coalition was the third, according to Radar Radio Romania, the New Popular Front (27.99%) and the National Rally and its allies. (33.15%) followed by 20.04% votes on Sunday, June 30.
Emmanuel Macron thought he could repeat what had already worked three times in the past: cast himself as a bulwark against the far-right to win against Marine in the second round of the 2017 presidential election and the second round of the 2022 presidential election. Le Pen, narrowly, secures a relative majority in the National Assembly in the second round of the 2022 legislative elections.
However, the republican barrier was significantly cracked two years ago, when the National Assembly (RN) registered 89 representatives. However, Emmanuel Macron and a small group of advisers predict the gamble will win again.
Confident, the head of state allowed himself to brag, comparing his June 10 strike to a “primary bomb” dropped at the feet of his enemies, according to a quote published by “Le Monde”.
The president is omnipresent but rejected by his candidates
However, in the following days, doubts and the feeling of an inevitable defeat arose among the candidates and leaders of the Group Presidential Alliance. “The republican leader has killed the majority,” former prime minister and leader of the Horizons party Eduard Philippe said on June 20. “I will no longer be a minister,” Interior Minister Gerald Dormanin said on June 21, adamant that he would see the fall of Macronism.
However, Emmanuel Macron is still so convinced that he can rally around his name and multiply his interventions in the media — big press conferences, a series of field trips, a letter to the French, a long interview on a podcast — that his candidates want to wipe his face. Their leaflets.
Between the great wave of the first round of the legislative elections in 2017, when political novices only had to pose with Emmanuel Macron, and the 2024 campaign, the difference is striking. He charts the decline of the presidency and Macronism after seven years in power, including the start of a second five-year term, a botched pension reform and immigration law that shocked even his own teammates.
On Sunday, June 30, the Presidential Alliance qualified for the second round with 290 to 330 seats, but the second round on Sunday, July 7 evening, gives only between 70 and 100 seats in the National Assembly.
“Our objective is clear: to prevent the National Assembly from gaining an absolute majority”
With defeat assured, Emmanuel Macron’s role was reduced to arbiter between the RN and the Nouveau Front populaire (NFP). According to opinion polls, a record number of triangles are emerging as 285 to 315 constituencies are targeted. Election results depend on the attitude of group candidates and the will of their voters.
“The time has come for a runoff, a clear Democratic-Republican union, to face the national convention,” he said in a written statement to the media at 8 p.m.
“The lesson tonight is that the extreme right is at the gates of power” and “our objective is clear: to prevent the National Coalition from gaining an absolute majority in the second round”, announced Prime Minister Gabriel Atal for his part. Condemnation of Le Pen’s party’s “dangerous plan”. “We must withdraw our candidates who will be retained in the third place in the by-election of the National Assembly against another candidate who, like us, defends the values of the republic,” he demanded.
As the presidential coalition did before the first round, the reports no longer mention the “extremists”, and clearly chose to target the RN, but clarify the ambiguity of La France to the candidates. The coming days will undoubtedly clarify Emmanuel Macron’s position. Meanwhile, the group candidate who came third in the first constituency of the Somme, Albane Branlant, announced on Sunday evening that he was withdrawing in favor of François Ruffin (NFP), who came second in the rally “in the face of national danger”. After this election and political defeat, Emmanuel Macron must now avoid becoming a president who handed over the keys to power to the far right.
Source: France 24 / Radar Radio Romania / Translation: Gabriela Sirbu
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