Are the French National Rally Leaders Uncertain about the Future of the Union? Valerie Dodeman’s Pessimistic Perspective
With the uncertain outcome looming over the high-stakes elections, Valerie Dodeman, 55-year-old legal expert said she is pessimistic about the future of France.
Le Pen has softened many of the party’s positions — she no longer calls for quitting NATO and the EU — to make it more electable. But the party’s core far-right values remain. It wants a referendum on whether being born in France is enough to merit citizenship, to curb rights of dual citizens, and give police more freedom to use weapons.
The election could result in the creation of the first far-right government since the Nazi occupation of World War II if the National Rally wins an absolute majority. The party came out on top in the previous week’s first-round voting, followed by a coalition of center-left, hard-left and Green parties, and Macron’s centrist alliance.
Both would be unprecedented for modern France, and make it more difficult for the European Union’s No. 2 economy to make bold decisions on arming Ukraine, reforming labor laws or reducing its huge deficit. After the National Rally won the most seats for France in European Parliament elections, the financial markets were jittery and even PresidentMacron surprised his allies by announcing snap elections.
49 million people will be eligible to vote in the elections that will determine which party controls the 577-member National Assembly and who will be the next prime minister. If the support for the centrist majority falls, he will have to share power with the parties that oppose his pro-business, pro-EU policies.
The centrists of the French presidency were defeated in the European elections on June 9 and so PresidentEmmanuelMacron dissolved parliament and called for the elections.
The French Parliament and the Sports World: A Day in the Life of a Violent Elector: Elections in Corsica and La Touquet
The individual freedom, tolerance and respect for other people is at stake in today’s election according to a voter.
Racism and antisemitism have marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian cybercampaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked — highly unusual for France. The government is deploying 30,000 police on voting day.
The heightened tensions come while France is celebrating a very special summer: Paris is about to host exceptionally ambitious Olympic Games, the national soccer team reached the semifinal of the Euro 2024 championship, and the Tour de France is racing around the country alongside the Olympic torch.
The first round turnout was the highest in 15 years and the end of voter apathy in French politics, which has been happening for nearly 30 years.
He and his wife voted in the seaside resort town of La Touquet. The prime minister voted in the suburb of Vanves.
In mainland France, voting is happening on Sunday in the crucial second round of elections that could decide the fate of Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally party.
The elections wrap up Sunday at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) in mainland France and on the island of Corsica. Early official results from the polls are expected late Sunday and early Monday.
Voters residing in the Americas and in France’s overseas territories of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and French Polynesia voted on Saturday.
France could be headed for sustained political deadlock after no party or alliance of parties appeared to have won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats, according to projections by French polling institutes based on preliminary results.
Rousseau said that without an absolute majority, the government could be brought down by opposition parties.
The projections suggested that the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, will be roughly divided into three main blocs with conflicting agendas and, in some cases, deep animosity toward one another.
Pollster projections released Sunday night after polls closed in the final round of legislative elections indicated that a group of left-wing parties called the New Popular Front would win the most seats, followed by Mr. Macron’s centrist alliance and the nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally. The centrists and the National Rally were not certain if they would be the second-largest bloc.
The major blocs don’t appear to be able to work with each other. Smaller parties or independents will take up the rest of the lower house’s seats if each is able to cobble together a majority. But their ability to do so is uncertain.
“French political culture is not conducive to compromise,” said Samy Benzina, a public law professor at the University of Poitiers, noting that France’s institutions are normally designed to produce “clear majorities that can govern on their own.”
If it was short of one, the National Rally thought it could reach a deal with other lawmakers to bridge the gap. Marine Le Pen, the party’s longtime leader, told French radio last week that it would not agree “just to be sitting in a minister’s seat without being able to do anything,” which she said would be “the worst betrayal” of the party’s voters.
On Sunday, a leader from one of the parties in the left-wing New Popular Front, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said he would not enter into negotiations with Mr. Macron’s coalition to form a government together.
Some analysts and politicians have suggested the possibility of a broad, “rainbow” coalition of lawmakers, agreeing on a limited number of key issues and stretching from the Greens to more moderate conservatives. Several leaders have ruled that out.
A government that handles day to day business until a political breakthrough is possible. This would be a departure from French tradition.