One week before the French elections, the far right became the favorite

Denis Charlet/AFPLeader of the far-right French National Rally party, Marine Le Pen

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“Third Force”

Fear of a victory by the National Front prompted the leftist opposition to form an alliance. The New Popular Front is a coalition led by socialists, environmentalists, communists and the Party of Unconquered France (LFI, far left), which won praise from former Socialist president François Hollande. The leader of the LFI party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, refused to “get rid of or impose himself” as prime minister if the left wins the second round of the legislative elections, on July 7. Macron’s coalition is trying to consolidate the Alternative’s position in the face of “extremists,” referring to the National Front and the LFI. The current president of the National Assembly (House of Representatives), Yael Brown-Bivett, told La Tribune: “Our country needs a third force, responsible and reasonable, capable of action and reassurance.”

In opinion polls, Macron’s popularity is in free fall, but has not reached the level recorded during the “yellow vest” crisis in 2018: it fell four points, to 28%, in an Ipsos poll for the newspaper La Tribune. It also registered a decline in JDD’s Ifop poll, down five points, to just 26% approval. The unexpected decision of the French President to call early legislative elections after his coalition failed in the European elections on June 9 against the far right, which received twice the number of votes obtained by the centrists, caused a “political earthquake” with uncertain consequences, according to analysts.

Macron, who has been in power since 2017, is facing difficulties in implementing his government program since he lost his absolute majority in the National Assembly in the legislative elections that took place in June 2022, but he defended the dissolution of the House of Representatives as a necessary option for “clarification.” Political panorama. But the head of state, whose term lasts until 2027, ruled out the possibility of resignation regardless of the outcome of the legislative elections. However, if the National Front achieves a landslide victory, “the moral guilt will be absolutely enormous,” says Vincent Martini, a professor of political science at the University of Nice. “We can imagine that the only honorable solution would be resignation,” the analyst adds.

Published by Luisa Cardoso

*With information from Agence France-Presse