“Historic choice”, “fear”, “values”: four days before the first round of legislative elections in France, the candidates from the three main political blocs dramatize the issues of the ballot and debate a hypothetical roadblock against the far right, more than ever big favorite.
The National Rally (RN) and its far-right allies maintain a comfortable lead in the polls (36%), ahead of the New Popular Front (NFP), a heterogeneous coalition of left-wing forces (28.5%) and, in third position, the centrist alliance around the outgoing majority (21%) of President Emmanuel Macron.
The outcome of the election remains uncertain in terms of seats in the National Assembly, especially as voters are expected to mobilize much more on June 30 and July 7 (between 60 and 64% expected participation) than in 2022. (47.8%) or the last European ones.
Tuesday evening, far-right leader Jordan Bardella, Macronist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and left-wing alliance representative Manuel Bompard clashed in a tense televised debate, which above all illustrated Mr. Bardella’s confidence in the victory for his side.
Calm, clearly better prepared than during a previous debate against Gabriel Attal a month ago during the European election campaign, Mr. Bardella clearly projected himself for the position of Prime Minister which will come to him if his party wins the majority absolute in the Assembly.
“Historical choice”
The dramatization of the issues has gone up a notch. “In a few days, you are called to the polls for a historic choice,” said the leader of the RN, whose party has never governed before.
On Wednesday, the head of the RN parliamentary group in the Assembly and historic leader of the party, Marine Le Pen, estimated for her part that there would “probably be demonstrations in the streets” if her party won. “The far left has always acted through violence,” she predicted.
“They attack meetings, they ruin social demonstrations and now they are starting to demonstrate against the election results. What are they going to do tomorrow? Are they going to take the Capitol? “, she added, in reference to the assault on the American Parliament in January 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump – themselves far-right.
The representative of the left Manuel Bompard called on the French to “prevent fear from becoming a reality and ensure that France does not descend into racism, hatred, every man for himself”.
Gabriel Attal, for his part, continued the presidential strategy since the announcement of the dissolution on June 9, sending his adversaries back to back: “France has a date with its values and its destiny, I have confidence in you and I have confidence in us,” he asserted.
Frantic campaign
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister was to continue his long-distance race on the ground to try to reduce the gap in his party, with two trips to the center-west of the country.
Jordan Bardella continues his media marathon with a double intervention scheduled on Europe 1 radio and the CNews channel, two media owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, regularly accused of playing into the hands of the far right.
Faced with the RN, and the political earthquake that its arrival in power would constitute, some 200 socialist, environmentalist and “macronist” personalities called in the newspaper Le Monde for the right, the center and the left to “clearly display from now on” an agreement of withdrawal in view of the second round.
The subject dominated the debates, the tenors of the presidential camp refusing to take a position before the first round and seeming to be moving towards a “neither RN, nor LFI”, even if Emmanuel Macron has not yet decided.
The head of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, member of the NFP, asked to meet her leaders to convince them to accept a “republican withdrawal”, demanding explanations on why “they do not differentiate between the extreme right and the left.
At midday, the Council of Ministers also announced the dissolution of the Union Defense Group (GUD), an ultra-right student union created in the 1970s and recently reactivated, and three other ultra-right structures. An Islamist association suffered the same fate.