Paris.-After an intense week of calls for mobilization, the New Popular Front (NFP) has sprung a surprise: the union of left-wing forces has won a majority in the National Assembly and has won up to forty seats over the far-right National Rally party.
The results put Ensemble, a coalition that includes Renaissance, President Emmanuel Macron’s party, in second place. According to Ipsos estimates, NFP might win between 172 and 192 seats, compared to 132-152 seats for the National Rally and 150-170 seats for Ensemble.
The situation before the polls closed already left Marine Le Pen’s party far from an absolute majority of 289 seats, but its candidates still in the lead. The results of the first round placed them in the lead in the majority of the 577 constituencies and of the 76 seats already closed, they had a total of 38. The 501 seats up for grabs on Sunday 7 July started with 304 triangular constituencies, in which three candidates had managed to qualify for the second round.
The response of the citizens was seen in a massive rally in the Plaza de la República last week: “They shall not pass” shouted the participants in Spanish, a reference to the historic Madrid cry once morest fascism. On the 7th, they returned to the same place to celebrate the results.
In an effort to prevent the far right from winning, both the New Popular Front and the current Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal (Ensemble) promised to withdraw their candidates from all constituencies where they had come third. And so they did: the New Popular Front disappeared from 132 territories and Ensemble from a total of 83. The strategy sought to concentrate the “anti-Le Pen” vote on a single candidate, which the voters might interpret as “less bad”.
On Sunday, 89 triangular matches and 409 duels were played in France, with the left-wing coalition facing the National Rally in 149 of them. The strategy adopted by both parties was harshly criticised by the National Rally candidate, Jordan Bardella, following the polls were published.
“The dishonourable alliance forged by Macron and Attal and their electoral arrangements with the far left have deprived the French of the political right-way that the French had chosen,” she said. The victory of the National Rally, said the party leader, Marine Le Pen, “has only been delayed.” “The tide is rising. It has not reached as high this time, but it will continue to rise.”
The success of the New Popular Front has been influenced by the participation of the French population. While in the first round the mobilisation rate exceeded the 65% barrier, this Sunday the historic figure of 67% was achieved, the highest participation in an election for 43 years.
Despite Mélenchon’s call to govern, the New Popular Front lacks a sufficient majority, as well as a single candidate for head of government. For the moment, the coalition has refused to make a pact with Ensemble. Macron, for his part, has called for “prudence” and has defended that his alliance “is still very much alive.”
After the first Ipsos polls were released at the polling stations closing at 8pm, the headquarters of the New Popular Front was bursting with joy at the early victory. The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, made it clear that “the president has the power and the duty to call on the New Popular Front to govern” and called for Gabriel Attal to resign, something that the Prime Minister has already undertaken.
However, the coalition has fallen short of the absolute majority that would give it a smooth government. The party might win up to 192 seats according to polls, below the 289 needed. Bardella has warned of a possible deadlock and Macron has called for “prudence”. “The question is who will govern from now on and achieve a majority,” stressed the president. The left-wing MP, however, has already announced in his speech the intention to implement his programme from this summer. The first measures, such as the repeal of the pension reform and the lowering of the retirement age to 60, would come by decree.Infobae.
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2024-07-11 15:12:41