Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review
French go to polls for decisive vote
The French far right and its struggling rivals made a final push for votes on July 5 ahead of the decisive round of parliamentary elections that were called in a major gamble President Emmanuel Macron.
The National Rally (RN) insisted that it could win an absolute majority in parliament, despite polls projecting the anti-immigration and eurosceptic outfit would fall dozens of seats short of the target despite being the largest party.
Both the centrist forces led by Macron and a broad leftwing coalition have agreed to withdraw more than 200 candidates from the runoff on July 7 after the June 30 first round, to avoid splitting the anti-RN vote.
“I think there is still the capacity to have an absolute majority, with the electorate turning out in a final effort to get what they want,” the RN’s leader Marine Le Pen told BFM television.
If the RN wins an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, it would be able to form a government with Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege Jordan Bardella as prime minister.
Le Pen is expected to make a fourth attempt to win the Elysee Palace in 2027.
Macron’s decision to call snap elections three years ahead of schedule after his party’s drubbing in EU Parliament elections has been seen as the biggest gamble of his political career.
However, polls have shown that the Macron camp could at least avoid its nightmare scenario of a RN absolute majority.
A poll by Harris Interactive projected that the RN and its allies would win 190 to 220 seats in the National Assembly, while the latest Ifop poll Thursday projected it would get 210 to 240 seats.
The NFP is set to have the second-largest contingent and Macron’s alliance only the third-biggest faction.