France’s election results showed that President Emmanuel Macron and his far-left “Union of Dishonor” effectively blocked the populist Rally National from winning a majority, despite Le Pen’s party winning the most votes.
according to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) won more than 8.7 million votes in the second round of France’s general election on Sunday, the most of any party, with 32.05 percent of the vote, according to the French Interior Ministry.
Combined with his electoral alliance partner, the controversial Republican leader Eric Ciotti, who received around 1.4 million votes, or 5% of the vote, the right-wing’s vote share would exceed 10 million, giving it 37.05% of the vote.
In comparison, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left New Popular Front coalition of communists, socialists and environmentalists received only about 7 million votes, or 25.7% of the total, while Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal centrist coalition received only 6.3 million votes, or 23.15% of the total.
However, despite receiving 1.7 million fewer votes than the RN, the New Popular Front won more seats than any other party. Projected by Le Monde Although Macron’s coalition won an estimated 168 seats and came in first in terms of vote share, the RN and its partners won the third-highest number of seats with an estimated 143.
The disparity in votes and seats in the National Assembly was the result of a closed-door deal between President Macron and the New Popular Front, in which both sides agreed to withdraw from the election in favor of candidates most likely to beat the populist parties in more than 200 constituencies.
Days before sealing the pact to thwart Le Pen, Mr Macron had warned that voting for either the National Rally or the left-wing New Popular Front would lead to a “civil war”, leading many to question why he would side with the left after the Rally’s success in the first round.
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
Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of the National Rally, criticised the “unholy alliance” between Macron and the New Popular Front, saying it would “throw France into the arms of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left.”
Former RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen viewed the result positively, saying: “Two years ago we had just seven deputies. Tonight the RN is the number one party in France in terms of deputies.”
This is true: while Macron’s coalition government and the New Popular Front boast more seats overall, they are both collections of various smaller parties, and the RN is the only party with more than 100 seats in the National Assembly.
While this is a disappointing result for the populist parties, it may make it easier for the RN to win the French presidential election in 2027. With the debt crisis looming, a loss of power for the Rally National would absolve it of any responsibility for a potential economic crisis in the near future.
The party will also benefit from the fact that Emmanuel Macron, who has been an effective rallying point for the centrists, will be barred from running for president again due to term limits, which would literally tie him politically to the communists and make it unclear how effective he will be at leading the country for the remainder of his term.
Far-left leader Mélenchon says ‘native French’ poses ‘serious problems’ for social cohesionhttps://t.co/QabdpihpDA
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 16, 2024
