The second round of elections will be held next Sunday, July 7. French legislative electionsafter the early call of the president Emmanuel Macron. The new French deputies will emerge from the elections, after what was the dissolution of the National Assembly by the poor results which the president’s party won in the last European elections at the beginning of June.
The far right won in the first roundwhere the centre-right forces of President Emmanuel Macron came in third behind the left. The far-right party National Grouping (RN) of Marine Le Pen and her allies obtained more than 34% of votesbut they will have to wait until tomorrow to find out whether they will achieve an absolute majority in the National Assembly (lower house).
“We need an absolute majority,” said Le Pen. in front of his supporters in his stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont, in northern France. The French “they have issued a resounding verdict”said his candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, from Paris.
It should be noted that if Le Pen’s party gets a absolute majority of 289 seatsEmmanuel Macron would have to appoint the party president, Jordan Bardellaas Prime Minister. This The second round is held in those constituencies where no candidate has obtained an absolute majority..
It may also happen that the elections do not determine a clear winner in the European country, which would lead to institutional blockage or paralysis. Since the three main blocs were at odds during the campaign, it is unlikely that they will agree to form a coalition that would win an absolute majority.
Macron seeks to counter the advance of the far right
France is divided into 577 legislative constituenciesit is therefore this number that will be represented by deputies in the National Assembly. This distribution was carried out in the 2012 legislative elections following demographic trends and also taking into account French residents abroad.
Candidates from Le Pen’s party and her allies emerged victorious in the first round in 296 of France’s 577 electoral districts, winning 39 of them with more than 50% of the votes. According to some polls, The National Rally could win between 240 and 300 seats of the 577 that make up the National Assembly, which would be its best result and would put it close to an absolute majority.
On the other hand, The New Popular Front (NFP) and Macron called on their candidates to withdraw in the constituencies where the so-called triangulation takes place, that is, the triangular contests between the candidates for deputies of RN, the NFP and Macron’s moderate party. In this way, This would be a duel between the AN candidate against the party with the most votes between NFP and ‘Renacimiento’ in the first round, to accumulate the vote against the extreme right.
In case that A party or coalition that wins a majority of deputies will have control of the National Assembly.. All polls show Le Pen’s party, RN, as the winner, so a majority in this chamber would force Macron to form a cohabitation government. The second force in the polls would be the New Popular Front, the coalition of left-wing parties that, if it wins, would also force Macron to cohabit with them in power.
Le Pen: Help for Ukraine and criticism of Mbappé
The leader of a party running in France’s election said her prime minister would stop Kyiv from using long-range weapons supplied by France to strike inside Russia and would block President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that he could put French boots on Ukrainian soil.
“If Emmanuel Macron wants to send troops to Ukraine and the Prime Minister is against it, then no troops will be sent to Ukraine“, he said in an interview with CNN“The prime minister has the final say,” he added.
He also referred to the statements of Kylian MbappéReal Madrid and French national football team striker, who previously said that “I think that more than ever we have to go and vote, it is really urgent, We cannot leave our country in the hands of these people.it is really urgent.”
“We have seen the results of the first round, it is catastrophic. We really hope that this will change and that everyone will mobilize to vote (…) and vote for the right side.“, added the 2018 world champion.
Le Pen was not far behind in her comments: “The French are fed up with being lectured and advised on how to vote,” she began. She then declared that “Mbappé does not represent French people of immigrant origin, because there are many more who live on the minimum wage, who cannot afford housing and cannot afford heating, than people like Mr Mbappé can.”
Source: Ambito
