Macron urges French to make ‘right choice’ in poll gamble
President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday he was confident the French would make the “right choice” in snap elections he called after the far right inflicted a crushing defeat on his centrist alliance in EU elections.
His surprise move came after mainstream centrist parties kept an overall majority in the European Parliament in Sunday’s poll, but the far right notched up a string of high-profile victories in Italy, Austria and France.
In Germany, where the three ruling coalition parties also performed dismally, centreleft Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman yesterday ruled out a snap poll.
Analysts say the French leader has taken the extremely risky gamble of calling for snap polls in a bid to keep the farright National Rally (RN) out of power when his second term ends in 2027.
“I am confident in the capacity of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations,” Macron wrote on X yesterday morning.
“My sole ambition is to be useful to our country that I love so much.”
Macron’s announcement of elections for a new National Assembly on June 30, with a second round on July 7 in France, has sparked widespread alarm, even from within the ranks of his own party.
“By playing with fire, the head of state could end up by burning himself and dragging the entire country into the fire,” Le Monde wrote in an editorial. Lower house speaker Yael
nd Braun-Pivet, a senior figure within Macron's party, yesterday morning appeared to express some dissent, indicating that forming a coalition with other parties could have been a better “path”.
“The president believed that this path did not exist... I take note of the decision,” she told the France 2 television channel.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist, described the
prospect of elections just weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics as “extremely unsettling”.
But the International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach played down any direct impact on the event.
In a televised address late on Sunday, Macron warned of the danger of “the rise of nationalists and demagogues” for France and its place in Europe.
Macron noted that, including the RN, far-right parties in France had managed to take almost 40 per cent of the EU vote.
He hopes to win back the majority he lost in the lower
house after winning a second term in 2022 legislative elections.
But some fear the anti-immigration RN could instead win, forcing Macron to work in an uncomfortable coalition with a far-right prime minister.
RN vice-president Sebastien Chenu yesterday said the party’s 28-year-old leader Jordan Bardella would be its contender for the post.
His mentor Marine Le Pen, who was runner-up in the last two presidential elections, has remained party leader in parliament and is largely expected to run again in 2027. (AFP)
“By playing with fire, the head of state could end up burning himself