Macron seeks to thwart French far-right in election second round

In an unprecedented first, French President Emmanuel Macron and his supporters launched a week-long campaign Monday in anticipation of the second round of legislative elections, with the goal of keeping the extreme right from seizing an absolute majority and assuming control of the government.

In the first round of polling on Sunday, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party emerged victorious, with Macron’s centrists lagging in third place behind a coalition of left-wing politicians.

The main question that awaited voters ahead of the July 7 second round was whether the RN would secure both the most seats and an outright majority in the newly formed National Assembly.

That would enable the party of far-right figurehead Le Pen to be certain of taking power and for her protege Jordan Bardella, 28, to become prime minister.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the far right was now at the “gates of power”. The RN should not get a “single vote” in the second round, he said.

“We have seven days to spare France from catastrophe,” said Raphael Glucksmann, a key figure in the left-wing alliance.

After the RN defeated his centrist forces in this month’s European Parliament elections, Macron shocked the country and confused some friends by announcing the holding of early polls.

According to projections from reputable French polling organizations, the RN received 33.2–33.5 percent of the vote, while Macron’s centrist camp received 21.0–22.1 percent and the left-wing New Popular Front alliance received 28.1-28.5 percent.

After the second election, the polling agencies predicted that the RN would hold a majority of seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. However, it was far from certain that the party would win the 289 seats required for a landslide victory.

The projections varied sharply, with Ipsos forecasting 230-280 seats, Ifop 240-270 and Elabe the only organisation to put it in the range of an absolute majority of 260-310 seats.