Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party made historic gains to win the first round of France’s parliamentary elections, but the outcome will depend on days of alliance-building ahead of the rush for votes next week.
The RN and allies took 33% of the vote, followed by a left-wing bloc on 28%, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists on just 20%, official Interior Ministry results showed on Monday.
It was a major setback for Macron, who called early elections after his ticket was defeated by the RN in last month’s European Parliament elections.
But whether the anti-immigrant and eurosceptic RN manages to form a government will depend on next week’s decisive round and the success with which other parties manage to thwart Le Pen by uniting behind the best-placed rival candidates in constituencies across the country. all of France.
Leaders of both the left-wing New Popular Front and Macron’s centrist alliance made clear on Sunday night that they would withdraw their own candidates in districts where another candidate was in a better position to defeat the RN in next Sunday’s second round.
A longtime pariah for many in France, the RN is now closer to power than ever. Le Pen has sought to clean up the image of a party known for racism and anti-Semitism, a tactic that has worked against a backdrop of voter anger at Macron, the high cost of living and growing concerns about immigration.
An RN-led government would raise important questions about the direction of the European Union, given its resistance to deeper EU integration. Economists have also questioned whether its spending plans are fully funded.
The euro hit a two-week high during Asian trading on Monday as markets felt relief that the RN did not perform better.
“I think it’s a slight ‘well, there were no surprises’ so there was a sense of relief there,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at City Index.
RN lawmakers on Monday asked center-right politicians from the Republicanos (LR) party, which received less than 7% of the first-round vote, to withdraw from districts where such a move would favor RN.
“If they know they won’t win, I ask them to back off and let the national team win,” RN MP Laure Lavalette told RTL radio.
For now, the Republican party, which split ahead of the vote with a small number of its lawmakers joining the RN, has given no indication of its position.
All candidates who passed the first round have until Tuesday night to confirm whether they will move on to the second round.
Source: CNN Brasil
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