One week before the first round of the legislative elections in France, the extreme right leads the polls and seeks to reach an absolute majority ahead of the left alliance and the ruling bloc. Thousands of people demonstrated this Sunday in Paris and other French cities to denounce the “danger” that the extreme right poses for women’s rights. President Emmanuel Macron Wrote one open letter to citizens in which he accused the extreme right and the left of dividing the country and asked for a vote for the center.
The extreme right and the left in the lead
The National Rally (RN, extreme right) and its alliesamong them the president of the conservative party Los Republicanos, Éric Ciotti, they would obtain between 35.5 and 36 percent of the votes, according to two polls published on Sunday. RN and its allies are ahead of the New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties (27 to 29.5 percent) and President Macron’s centrist alliance (19.5 to 20 percent).
RN president Jordan Bardella is working to moderate the party’s image, as is its leader Marine Le Pen, who wants to erase the legacy of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, known for his racist and anti-Semitic comments. “I want to reconcile the French and be the prime minister of all French people, without any distinction,” Bardella said in an interview with the Journal du dimanche (JDD).
Fear of a far-right triumph led the left-wing opposition to unite. The New Popular Front is a coalition led by socialists, environmentalists, communists and France Insoumise (LFI), applauded even by the former socialist president François Hollande, candidate in the elections. LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to “eliminate himself or impose himself” as prime minister if the left wins the second round scheduled for July 7.
The left alliance is immersed in speculation regarding its candidate for prime minister in the event of victory. Mélenchon affirmed his “intention to govern this country.” But Hollande asked him on Sunday that, if he wants to help, he “step aside” and “shut up.” Emmanuel Macron’s alliance seeks to position itself as the alternative against the “extremes”, in reference to RN and LFI.
Macron in free fall
In the polls Macron’s popularity is in free fall, although it does not reach the levels it had during the yellow vest crisis in 2018: it reaches 28 percent in the Ipsos survey for the weekly La Tribune. The unexpected decision of the French president to call early legislative elections after his failure in the European elections on June 9 against the extreme right, which obtained twice as many votes as his alliance, represented a “political earthquake” of uncertain consequences according to experts. .
In a letter to the people Macron said that the coalition led by his party is “the best for the country”, because “it protects the French and prepares the future” and “it is the only option that simultaneously blocks both the extreme right and the extreme left.” He also acknowledged that he understands “the democratic unrest” that affects many French people due to the situation in the country, but urged citizens to analyze the programs to “vote conscientiously and responsibly.”
Macron explained that, on the one hand, the extreme right “divides the nation by pitting what she calls the authentic French against the paper French,” in addition to denying climate change and its consequences. He also assured that the RN party “intends to care about the purchasing power” of citizens but its campaign promises “will increase taxes.” On the left he stated that his promises of greater public spending will mean “a massive increase in taxes for everyone, and not just for the richest”, among other criticisms.
The streets against the extreme right
The newspaper Le Monde published a letter from 170 diplomats and former diplomats in which they warn that an RN victory “would weaken France and Europe” at a time “when war is with us.” In addition, tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday in France to denounce the dangers to women’s rights if the far-right triumphs in the legislative elections.
In Paris, according to the organizers, 75 thousand people paraded under the sun heeding the call of more than 200 associations and unions. By the end of the afternoon the authorities had not communicated figures for the capital, but 14,000 protesters were registered in the regions in 41 events, according to the police. Feminist associations, unions and NGOs dthey enunciate the “facade feminism” of the extreme rightaccusations rejected by RN.
The “feminist alert” was symbolically concretized with an alarm and whistles from protesters wearing the color violet, emblematic of feminism. Banners were displayed that said “Neither husband nor boss” or “Machismo is the bed of fascism”. “Every time the extreme right comes to power somewhere, it attacks the right to abortion, there will be no French exception,” Sarah Durocher, president of Planning Familial, told the press.
