|
Post by Admin on Jun 9, 2024 20:50:16 GMT
[Brussels] French President Macron announced on the 9th a snap general election for the National Assembly (lower house). The decision was made in response to the ruling coalition's defeat by a wide margin in the European Union (EU) European Parliament elections on the same day to the far-right National Coalition (RN) party led by Marine Le Pen. The first round of voting will be held on June 30th, and the final election will be held on July 7th.
Mr. Macron expressed the recognition that the European Parliament elections were ``not a good result for the party that protects Europe.'' Le Pen said she was ready for "the RN to use its power to straighten out the country and rebuild France."
RN belongs to the ``Identity and Democracy'' skeptic group (sect) in the European Parliament that is critical of the EU, and Le Pen is the de facto face of this group.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 9, 2024 21:13:11 GMT
The Rassemblement National (RN) performed beyond expectations in the European election on Sunday, June 9, garnering 31.5% of the votes cast, according to initial estimates from the Ipsos institute for France Télévisions, Radio France, France 24/RFI, Public Sénat/LCP Assemblée Nationale. The score represents a 40-year record for any French political party in the European elections. Not since Simone Veil's right-wing coalition in 1984 (43%) had any party reached higher than the 30% mark.
Despite competition from another far-right list of candidates (Reconquête!, estimated at 5.5%), the RN improved on Bardella's 2019 score (23.34%) by almost eight points. With almost twice as many votes as President Emmanuel Macron's coalition, the RN is expected to send between 29 and 31 members to the European Parliament, making up the body's largest delegation.
With just over one in two registered voters taking part in the election, Bardella is expected to surpass the number of votes obtained by RN leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the 2022 presidential election (23.15%), with well over 8 million ballots.
This score is the culmination of a campaign that began back in September 2023, and in which the RN did its utmost to make a vote centered on domestic matters. It attempted to turn the European race into a referendum for or against Macron. It's a game to which the government willingly lent itself, with the French president and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal throwing themselves into the campaign in the last month.
Buoyed by Bardella's high media exposure and a succession of news that played to his advantage, the RN benefited from a campaign focusing on its favorite issues: immigration and insecurity. Bardella capitalized on his positive image within a segment of the electorate that had previously turned away from the far right, notably those over 60.
The repeated arguments used by his opponents to discredit Bardella, such as his views on the European Union and Russia, his absenteeism from the European Parliament and his radical European allies, clearly had no impact on the choices made by the RN's traditional electorate, or by former right-wing voters.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 9, 2024 21:16:04 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 10, 2024 0:06:13 GMT
National Coalition's presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (55) was the ``face of the party.'' Bardera was elected to the European Parliament at the age of 23 and became party leader two years ago, succeeding Le Pen.
◆Election rallies, like a club
When you watch election rallies broadcast over the internet, they look like a disco venue. A DJ serves as emcee in a venue illuminated by laser lights. When Mr. Bardera shouted, ``If we don't rebuild our immigration policy immediately, our civilization will die,'' cheers erupted and the French tricolor flag waved in unison.
According to the latest opinion poll, the party's approval rating is 33%. It is far ahead of Macron's ruling party (16%), which came in second place, and has surpassed the vote share in the previous European Parliament elections held in 2019 (23%). The party's support base has been among middle-aged and older people who are concerned about the worsening security situation, but Mr. Bardera has expanded his support among young people. The party's approval rating among voters under 25 is 32%. Among men aged 18 to 19, the number reached 49%, indicating a charismatic popularity.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jun 10, 2024 6:04:04 GMT
President Emmanuel Macron has called snap parliamentary elections later this month in the wake of a big victory for his rival Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the European Parliament vote. The far-right party is on course to win 32% of the vote, exit polls say, more than twice that of the president's Renaissance party.
Announcing the dissolution of parliament, he said the two rounds of voting would take place on 30 June and 7 July, a few weeks before the Paris Olympics. Mr Macron made the dramatic and surprise decision in a televised address from the Élysée Palace an hour after voting closed and exit polls had been declared in France's EU elections. His decision came not long after National Rally's 28-year-old leader, Jordan Bardella, openly called on the president to call parliamentary elections. "I have heard your message," the president told French voters, "and I will not let it go without a response."
Now barely two years into his second term as president, Mr Macron already lacks a majority in the French parliament, and though this European vote in theory has no bearing on national politics, he clearly decided that continuing his mandate without a new popular consultation would place too much of a strain on the system. The upcoming parliamentary elections also won't affect Mr Macron's own job, as they are separate to the presidential elections and his term as president still runs for three more years. Ms Le Pen, who has twice been defeated by Mr Macron in presidential elections, immediately reacted, saying her party was "ready to exercise power, ready to put an end to mass immigration".
|
|