Emmanuel Macron tonight dissolved France’s National Assembly and announced there will be new parliamentary elections with the first round of voting on 30 June and the second round a week later. The president made an unscheduled appearance on television one hour after exit polls declared a crushing victory for the National Rally in the European elections.
Marine Le Pen’s party, whose election campaign was run by the 28-year-old president Jordan Bardella, is predicted a score of between 32 and 33.3 per cent, more than twice that of Macron’s representative, Valerie Hayer. She trailed a distant second on a projected 15 per cent, just ahead of the Socialist Raphaël Glucksmann.
The result is a stunning victory for the National Rally
The result is a stunning victory for the National Rally. Their strategy was to turn the elections into a French ‘mid-terms’, calling on voters to voice their opposition to Macron and his government, and their relationship with Brussels.
‘Our fellow Frenchmen have expressed a desire for change,’ Bardella told the party faithful at their Paris HQ. ‘This clear message for European leaders shows the will of the French to see Europe change course. A wind of hope is blowing over France, and it’s just the beginning.’
A fortnight ago, Macron had used a state visit to Germany to warn of an ‘ill-wind’ blowing through Europe, a reference to the rise of parties he described as ‘far-right’. Exit polls in several other European nations, including Austria, Greece and Germany, predict that the National Rally are not the only nationalist party which have performed well in the elections.
Bardella called on Macron in his victory speech to dissolve parliament, and Macron has granted him his wish. ‘The rise of nationalists and demagoguery is dangerous for France,’ said a grave-looking Macron. He added that it was also an embarrassment, mentioning that the eyes of the world will be on France at the end of July when Paris hosts the Olympics.
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Macron has taken a huge gamble. A momentum has been building behind Le Pen and Bardella ever since the legislative elections in June 2022. That was the party’s breakthrough moment when they won 88 of the Assembly’s 577 seats, becoming the largest single party after Macron’s Renaissance.
Macron’s failure to secure an absolute majority two years ago has slowly eroded his authority; a cost-of-living crisis, a spate of Islamist attacks and the continued failure to bring immigration under control has further undermined his stature.
At the same time these events have boosted Le Pen. A report commissioned earlier this year found that in the event of new parliamentary elections, the National Rally would win the most seats, possibly even securing an absolute majority.
Macron had tried to make the war in Ukraine the focus of the European elections. He referenced the conflict during last week’s D-Day commemoration and took the unusual step of a live TV interview on Thursday evening. Once more he warned of the danger of the far-right, while also promising to increase military support to the Ukraine. But his words had no effect. Such is the president’s unpopularity.
As Marine Le Pen said in reaction to the TV interview: ‘The more Macron talks, the more he mobilises our electoral base.’
They mobilised on Sunday night and if they mobilise again in such numbers on 30 June it will be another historic evening for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. Le Pen, who welcomed the president’s decision, declared: ‘We are ready to exercise power, ready to put an end to mass immigration, to make purchasing power a priority, ready to revive France.’
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