France heads to the polls in first round of legislative elections; polls project shifts to the far right | Al-Jarida Al-Watania

The French will head to the polls on Sunday (30) in the first round of legislative elections. Opinion polls indicate a shift towards the far right in the second largest economy in the European Union.

In front of the main postcard in France, activists protested against National meeting, An extreme right-wing party appears in first place in voting intentions polls for the parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday (30). A party that has already advocated the mass deportation of millions of foreigners and denied the history of the Holocaust.

The party’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted of racism and anti-Semitic hate speech. His daughter, Marine, has angered her father and has been trying for years to rebrand the party to convince voters and the moderate right that it is not extremist, but She herself has a history of discrimination and controversy.

He likened Muslim public prayers to the Nazi occupation, and said in 2017 that it represented the same policies as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Marine Le Pen also gave a new face to the party. Jordan Bardella, 28, took over as president of the National Rally party in 2022. He also advocates anti-immigration policies and is critical of the European Union, but his less controversial rhetoric has won over voters dissatisfied with traditional parties.

Three weeks ago, President Emmanuel Macron decided to advance the date of the legislative elections, after his party obtained less than half of the votes of Le Pen’s party in the European Parliament vote. It was a political maneuver to try to expand the base in the French Parliament, but… He shows signs of having been shot in the foot.

In the National Assembly, Macron’s centrist coalition won 250 seats. The far right won 88 seats. Now, Macron’s group is expected to fall to between 70 and 100 seats, according to opinion polls. The far right can hold between 225 and 265 seatsThe party needs 289 seats out of 577 to obtain an absolute majority.

Another force that must grow is the left, which has united and could have up to 200 parliamentarians.

Early legislative elections in France are the most important in decades Not just for the country, but for the whole of Europe, and the consequences will go far beyond that. The world is watching and it will continue like this until the second round on July 7.

If the research is confirmed, France could witness a rare but not unprecedented phenomenon: the so-called “cohabitation”. This is when the opposition-dominated parliament chooses a prime minister from a different group than the president. The last time this happened was 22 years ago.

In such a scenario, the person who makes key decisions on domestic policy is the Prime Minister. The president is responsible for foreign policy and defense sector decisions.

Political analyst Emmanuel Riviere also warns of the danger of reaching a deadlock in Parliament:

“While each side is discrediting the other, there is a possibility that France will not obtain any kind of potential majority after the second round on July 7, opening up a completely unknown situation,” Rivière said.