Six days before the French legislative elections, the far-right is growing more and more in the polls and declared itself ready to assume power. “We are prepared” to govern, said the far-right candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, on Monday. Meanwhile, the president Emmanuel Macron warned that the electoral programs of his far-right and radical left rivals lead to “civil war”.
“The response of the extreme right” in terms of insecurity, “refers people to a religion or an origin” and that is how “it divides and leads to civil war,” declared the centrist president in the podcast “Génération Do It Yourself.”
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Macron called for early legislative elections, which will be held in two rounds this Sunday and on July 7, after suffering a tough defeat in the European elections on June 9.
What Jordan Bardella said
Bardella, the 28-year-old rising star of the far right, was confident of the triumph of the National Rally, which he commands alongside the historic leader Marine Le Pen.
“The National Rally (RN) is currently the only movement that can put into motion (…) the aspirations of the French. In three words: We are prepared,” Bardella stressed, when presenting his electoral program.
Jordan Bardella, candidate for French prime minister (Photo: Reuters)
Bardella aspires to become prime minister if his party achieves an absolute majority in the legislative elections.
The far-right leader reiterated the main lines of his movement on security and immigration control and promised a “’big bang’ of authority” in school, proposing the use of uniforms, the obligation to talk about yourself to teachers and the ban on cell phones in educational centers.
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“Seven years of Macronism have weakened the country,” said Bardella, who reiterated his plans to expel foreigners convicted of crimes and cut spending “that favors immigration.” In addition, she warned that France is on the way to becoming “Venezuela, but without oil.”
The extreme right grows in the polls
In this framework, the French extreme right improves its voting intention for the first round of the elections, but would not reach the absolute majority of the chamber in the second round on July 7.
According to a survey published this Monday by The Figaro36% of voters will support the lists of the National Group (RN), half a point more than in the previous survey carried out by the same pollster last week.
In second position appears the left alliance, which groups La Francia Insumisa (LFI), the socialists, the environmentalists and the communists with 29.5%, also with half a point more than in the last survey. The party of the president, Emmanuel Macron, for its part, loses half a point and remains with 20.5%.
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The Ifop demographic institute also makes a projection of the seats in the second round and grants between 220 and 260 to the radical right, when the absolute majority is set at 289. In any case, that would mean triple the representation that he had in the outgoing Assembly.
The left would have between 185 and 215 deputies, while the ‘Macronistas’, which in the outgoing National Assembly was the majority group, with 250 seats, would have to settle for between 70 and 100. The traditional conservative right of Los Republicanos (LR ) would have, according to this poll, 7% of the votes in the first round and could obtain between 30 and 50 deputies, which would be key in the post-electoral negotiations.
Emmanuel Macron warned of the danger of civil war
Meanwhile, Macron assured that the electoral programs of his far-right and radical left rivals lead to “civil war.”
“The response of the extreme right” in terms of insecurity, “refers people to a religion or an origin” and that is how “it divides and leads to civil war,” declared the centrist president in the podcast “Génération Do It Yourself.”
Emmanuel Macron faces a tough electoral test (Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)By: REUTERS
On the other hand, La Francia Insumisa (LFI, radical left) proposes “a form of communitarianism… a little electoral”, “but which also has civil war behind it, because above all it refers people exclusively to their religious affiliation or community,” he added.
In turn, the centrist prime minister, Gabriel Attal, warned that the radical right “is not prepared to govern” and argued that it is “an opposition party and not a government party.”
