Marine Le Pen hailed the “rising tide” of populism in France and declared her National Rally party’s victory “only postponed” after her anti-mass immigration party won a record number of seats in the National Assembly on Sunday.
A backroom deal between President Emmanuel Macron and the far-left New Popular Front group of communists, environmentalists and socialists to strategically withdraw from selective elections, thereby artificially boosting support for left-wing and liberal candidates in some constituencies, was effective in preventing Le Pen from winning a majority in parliament.
But the former presidential candidate Said He said Macron’s desperate move was merely a setback and that the more than 10 million votes his National Rally and its allies won on Sunday – more than any other party – showed that “the tide continues to rise” and “our victory has only been postponed.”
There was some chance that the RN could have won a majority in the National Assembly, but the two-round voting system, instituted after World War II in the midst of a deep civil war to favour establishment parties, and Macron’s backroom dealings with the far-left prevented such an outcome, with the New Popular Front coming out on top with an estimated 184 seats, and Macron’s group coming in second with 166. according to To Figaro.
But despite all these obstacles, the Rally National and its conservative allies won 143 seats in the National Assembly, the most ever won by a populist party. For comparison, when Marine Le Pen took over from her father as leader in 2012, the party had just two seats. This result is more than 50 more seats than the Rally National will win in 2022.
French election: Populist Le Pen wins most votes but comes third in seatshttps://t.co/K2xh40HA6s
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 8, 2024
A strong showing for the RN would not only establish the anti-mass immigration populist party as a force to be reckoned with in the National Assembly, but also put it in a good position to challenge Le Pen in the 2027 French presidential election.
Macron has successfully rallied neoliberals and leftists by stoking fears of the so-called “far right” in the past two presidential elections and last week’s parliamentary elections, but his two-term limit means he is unlikely to run again.
It remains to be seen whether Macron’s centrist globalist bloc has a successor with the personal charisma needed to maintain a coalition government.
It is also unclear whether Macron will be able to navigate a highly volatile political situation for the remainder of his term. The next government will likely rely on communists and socialists who have serious ideological differences with the president on the economy and international policy. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melonchon has already called on Macron to either resign or appoint a far-left prime minister.
To make matters worse for Macron, France is facing a debt crisis that has pushed the debt to more than 3 trillion euros ($3.2 trillion), or about 110% of GDP, threatening to spiral into a full-blown economic crisis. The crisis could be made even worse by Macron’s new far-left partners, who are demanding that the pension age, already raised to 62, be reset to 60.
Le Pen’s departure would allow her to convincingly press elites like Macron and his far-left partners about the economic hardships facing ordinary French people, potentially giving her party another key issue to address in the 2027 presidential election, beyond opposition to mass immigration.
France’s Communist-Socialist coalition won after striking a deal with President Macron to thwart the populist Le Pen party, according to exit polls.https://t.co/eCvaqJhfAt
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 7, 2024
