France votes as far-right seeks power
Although the RN is expected to win the most seats in the National Assembly, the latest opinion polls indicated it may fall short of an absolute majority
Voter turnout in France’s parliamentary runoff election on Sunday rose sharply from the last time in 2022 in a ballot that could see the far-right National Rally (RN) emerge as the strongest force.
Although the RN is expected to win the most seats in the National Assembly, the latest opinion polls indicated it may fall short of an absolute majority.
A hung parliament would severely dent President Emmanuel Macron’s authority and herald a prolonged period of instability and policy deadlock in the euro zone’s second-biggest economy.
Should the nationalist, Eurosceptic RN secure a majority, it would usher in France’s first far-right government since World War Two and send shockwaves through the European Union at a time populist parties are strengthening support across the continent.
Turnout stood at 26.3 per cent by around noon 10:00 GMT, up from 18.99 per cent during the second voting round in 2022, the interior ministry said, highlighting the population’s extreme interest in an election that has highlighted polarised views in
France.
Opinion polls forecast Marine Le Pen’s RN will emerge the dominant force in the National Assembly as voters punish Macron over a cost of living crisis and being out of touch with the hardships people face.
However, the RN is seen failing to reach the 289-seat target that would outright hand Le Pen’s 28-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella the prime minister’s job with a working majority.
The far right’s projected margin of victory has narrowed since Macron’s centrist Together alliance and the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) pulled scores of candidates from three-way races in the second round in a bid to unify the anti-rn vote.
“France is on the cliffedge and we don’t know if we’re going to jump,” Raphael Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament who led France’s leftist ticket in last month’s European vote.
Political violence surged during the short three-week campaign. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said authorities recorded more than 50 physical assaults on candidates and campaigners.
Some luxury boutiques along the Champs Elysees boulevard, including the Louis Vuitton store, barricaded windows and Darmanin said he was deploying 30,000 police amid concerns of violent protests should the far-right win.
The RN has broadened its support beyond its traditional base along the Mediterranean coast and the deindustrialised north, tapping into voter anger at Macron over straitened household budgets, security, and immigration worries.
Macron stunned the country when he called the snap election after a humbling by the RN in last month’s European parliamentary vote, hoping to wrong-foot his rivals in a legislative election.