France: Parliament dissolved, snap polls to be held on June 30
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday dissolved the lower chamber of the French parliament, or the National Assembly, and called snap elections after the far-right National Rally (RN) inflicted a heavy defeat on his camp in European elections.
The first round of the legislative elections will be held on June 30, and the second round on July 7, Macron said in a broadcast speech after the farright party National Rally got 32 per cent of the votes in the EU elections.
“This is not a good result for the parties that defend Europe, including the presidential majority (in France),” Macron said.
The president criticised the far-right parties for opposing progress in Europe in recent years, including ‘economic revival, common protection of our borders, supporting farmers, support for Ukraine’.
“Those parties advance everywhere on the continent. In France, their representative reached almost 40 per cent of the votes cast,” Macron said.
“The rise of the nationalists and demagogues is dangerous not only for our nation but also for Europe,” he added.
Jordan Bardella, the head of the National Rally, was way ahead of Renaissance party’s
Valerie Hayer, backed by the government and President Emmanuel Macron.
Hayer received 15.2 per cent of the votes and her party ranked second, according to poll estimations gathered by Elabe.
Earlier, the National Rally called on the president to dissolve the parliament, with Bardella describing the preliminary results as an ‘unprecedented defeat for the current government’. The centre-left list of Raphael Glucksmann is likely to rank third with 14 per cent for now, and the left-wing party La France Insoumise with Manon Aubry is fourth with 9.3 per cent according to estimations.
The turnout rate was around 45.26 per cent in France as of 5pm, slightly higher than in 2019 (43.29 per cent), media outlets reported. The country had around 50mn voters to send 81 politicians to the EU parliament.
The rise of the nationalists and demagogues is dangerous not only for our nation but also for Europe EMMANUEL MACRON