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Emmanuel Macron’s party faces obliteration in French election
A ‘clash of extremes’ — far-left and hard-right set to clash in Sunday’s vote
On Sunday, France will go to the polls to vote in the first round of the snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron, following his party’s drubbing in the European elections. If Macron hoped the country would smarten up and recognize the error of its European election vote, it would appear as though he is set to once again be sorely disappointed by his countrymen.
In the European elections at the beginning of June, the French voted decisively for the Rassemblement National (RN), a right-wing party led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
It was a full repudiation of Macron’s performance as president, as his centrist L’Europe Ensemble alliance was relegated to a distant second place. Following the battering, Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called a snap election.
Macron embarked on a massive roll of the dice by calling the election, evidently hoping that there existed some latent fear of the RN due to its unsavoury and racist past. Voters seem to have moved past that fear and that history.
Recent polls show the RN in first place. Other centre-right parties have recognized the impossibility of their situation and have decided to join forces with the RN, though some divisions still remain on the right.
