French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of France’s Parliament during a surprise announcement that will bring voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to elect lawmakers, after his party suffered a sobering defeat to the far-right in Sunday’s European Union elections.
The legislative elections will be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
The move comes as the first projected results in France on Sunday put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union parliamentary elections, defeating Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to opinion polls by French institutes.
Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration nationalist party is estimated to win between 31% and 32% of the vote, a historic result more than double that of Macron’s Renaissance party, which is projected to reach around 15%.
Macron himself was not a candidate for the EU elections and still has three years left in his term as president.
The president commented that the decision was “serious” but demonstrated his “confidence in our democracy, by allowing the sovereign people to express their opinion.”
“In the coming days, I will lay out what I believe is the right direction for the nation. “I have heard your message, your concerns, and I will not leave them unanswered,” she commented.
In the last legislative elections in 2022, Macron’s centrist party won the majority of seats but lost its majority in the National Assembly, forcing lawmakers to politically maneuver to pass laws.
With Sunday’s decision, Macron takes a big risk with a measure that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen eventually taking power.
A scenario where an opposition party eventually wins a parliamentary majority could lead to a risky power-sharing situation called “cohabitation,” where Macron could appoint a prime minister with other views.
Le Pen, who leads the National Rally party in the National Assembly, welcomed Macron’s measure.
“We are prepared for it,” said Le Pen, who fell behind Macron in the last two presidential elections. “We are prepared to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these next legislative elections. “We are prepared to turn the country around, prepared to defend the interests of the French, prepared to end mass immigration and prepared to make the purchasing power of the French a priority.”
The EU election results were a blow to Macron, who has defended Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and the EU’s need to boost its own defenses and industry.
The National Rally’s leading candidate for the EU elections, Jordan Bardella, campaigned in favor of limiting the free mobility of migrants by implementing national border controls and reducing EU climate rules. The party no longer wants to leave the EU or the euro, but rather weaken them from within.
“Tonight, our compatriots have expressed a desire for change,” Bardella said. “Tonight Emmanuel Macron is a weakened president.”
An official in Macron’s office said the decision to dissolve the National Assembly was justified because of the “historical punctuation of the far right” that cannot be ignored and the current “parliamentary disorder.”
“You are never wrong when you give the population a voice,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the practice of Macron’s office.
EU election projections show a resurgence of the Socialist Party, with approximately 14% of the vote. The party campaigned on more ambitious climate policies and protections for European businesses and workers.
Reacting to Macron’s announcement, far-left politician François Ruffin called on all left-wing leaders, including the Greens, to unite under a single banner “Popular Front.”
“To avoid the worst and to win,” he wrote in X.
France elects 81 members of the European Parliament, which has 720 seats in total.
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