Contacts, meetings and a race against time… Since yesterday the various French political blocs have been planning their strategy in view of the legislative elections which will be held on 30 June and 7 July. They do so in advance, after French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the courts and called new elections last Sunday, after the failure of the legislative elections in which he overwhelmed Marine Le Pen’s far right.
The Government does not have a majority in Parliament, which is fragmented into three blocs: the far right, the left and the presidential majority. Everyone tries to look for alliances, because every movement or pact on one side or the other can change the parliamentary scene to the point of bringing the far right into government. It will be the first time this has happened.
For now, the left has announced that the creation a popular front stop the National Rally (RN), Le Pen’s party, in the Assembly. Ecologists, socialists, communists and La Francia Insumisa will present single candidates in the constituencies, despite the disagreements existing between these political families. Raphael Glucksmann, socialist candidate in the European elections (he obtained 14%) however stated that «there is no need to talk about an agreement yet».
They have already united in the 2022 legislative elections, under the alliance called Nupes, which broke up precisely because of differences over issues such as the war in Gaza or Ukraine. Also due to the excessive prominence of the leader of France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mlenchon. Now they once again find themselves facing a common struggle against Le Pen and proposing a breakthrough program, a roadmap for the first 100 days of a possible government.
MOVEMENTS
Le Pen’s far right is also moving. Giordano Bardella, winner of Sunday’s elections, already met yesterday with Marion Marchal, candidate of Reconquista (Eric Zemmour’s far-right party) and Le Pen’s niece. Today Bardella extended his hand to Los Republicanos, the conservative party which until now was the government’s key to enforcing the laws.
Bardella has announced that he will support the candidacies of the Republicans in the districts in which they run. «Among the candidates that my political movement will support for these legislative elections, there will not only be people from the National Group, there will also be people from the Republican Party,» she said.
According to the newspaper Le Figaro, The conservative party is studying an agreement with Le Pen, which would significantly complicate matters for the presidential majority, which seems alienated by the circumstances. The proof is that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has been missing since yesterday. Today, in the usual Government meeting, he stated that he will go «to the limit of his duty» to «avoid the worst»: «The far right is at the gates of power» he said, according to close sources.
Even if the Republicans have not officially declared what their position will be, this would be something unprecedented, which could even cause a fracture in the formation. There is pressure so that this union does not take place and leaders such as Valrie PCresse, president of the Paris region, oppose it.
“Loyal to a Gaullist and republican right, after having faced Emmanuel Macron on the front line, I will never accept any compromise with the extremes,” he said.
The party’s senators published a statement expressing their opposition.
«The Republican senators have unanimously reaffirmed what should be the clear and responsible line of the French right: to continue to be itself while maintaining our independence and our autonomy, both against the Macronist and Lepnist camps», we read in text.
If the far right were to ally with the conservatives, France could find itself in an unusual situation: it would begin to face a common struggle at the polls to stop the far right, to form anti-Macron alliances.
it’s already there polls on the outcome of the polls. According to one from Harris Interactive for Challenges and RTL, Marine Le Pen’s party would win the elections, with 34% of the vote. In 2022 they reached 18%. The left would have 22% and Macron’s bloc (Renacimiento, his party, and Modem and Orizzonti) would be in third position, with 19%. Since the legislative elections take place in two rounds (30 June and 7 July), it is difficult to predict how the second vote will evolve, so these polls are taken with a grain of salt, with caution.
French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow. It was scheduled for Tuesday. Meanwhile, trade unions have issued a call to mobilize against the far right this weekend, which the left has declared it will join. There have already been spontaneous demonstrations in some cities on Sunday and Monday. In Paris, several hundred people gathered in the Plaza de la República. For now they are taking place without any major incidents.
