Snap Election in France Goes Quite Badly For Macron, the Man Who Called For It

 

The first round of the snap parliamentary election that French President Macron called for was held yesterday. There was high voter turnout, as some 35 million came out all across the nation to participate in the first round of the snap election. The second round is slated for a week from now, on July 7th.

So how did it go? Did Macron's big and unexpected bet pay off for him? Did he shock the doubters and pull off a stunning political upset?

Well, not exactly. And no matter what happens from here on out, one thing is clear: Macron cannot say that he was not warned.

A lot of people thought that him calling a snap election following his party's electoral defeat was ill-timed and extremely risky. After all, he had just been handed a humbling loss. Maybe it should have served as a warning, and humbled him.

Instead, he took a chance. It was a real risk. He seems to have figured that he could make gains in a new election, that he could galvanize support and get a stronger showing.

Fast-forward to yesterday's first round of elections in France, and it is clear that he lost that gamble. Whoever emerges as the final winner in the second round of this election, it is not clear that the centrist Macron proved to be the undeniable, big loser. This will likely not just mar his legacy, but indeed will define his legacy.

The biggest winner in the first round of this election was the far-right National Rally (RN), which obtained 33.15% of the vote. In second place in the first round was Jean-Luc Mélenchon's leftwing New Popular Front (NFP), which won just about 28% of the vote. Coming in third place was President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance, which managed only 20.76% of the vote. The other parties won the remainder of the vote.

Despite having gotten more than any other party, the RN did not come close to approaching more than 50% of the vote, which means that there will the run-off, or the second round. Mélenchon declared that there is no other alternative to the far-right now for France now than his NFP party.

Still, it is clear that the overall trend in recent years - even decades, now - is that the far-right keeps winning more and more seats, and obtains a higher percentage of the overall votes. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has warned the French people that the extreme right now stands at  the 'gates of power.' He says that everything possible must be done to prevent the far-right extremists from obtaining an outright majority. 

Far right leads first round of France’s parliamentary election in blow to Macron by Saskya Vandoorne, Christian Edwards, Niamh Kennedy and Xiaofei Xu, CNN, Mon July 1, 2024:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/30/europe/macron-france-election-first-round-intl/index.html

France is set for its most consequential election in decades. Here’s what you need to know by Christian Edwards, CNN, Thu June 27, 2024:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/europe/france-parliament-election-explainer-intl-cmd

France elections: PM warns extreme right is at 'gates of power'