Three days before a high-stakes parliamentary vote, there is uncertainty about France’s political future, with the far right surging in the polls. Depending on the outcome, President Emmanuel Macron could find himself in a tense “cohabitation” with a prime minister from an opposition party. Another scenario could be finding himself with a parliament unable to produce a stable majority to govern the European Union’s second-largest economy.
Polls suggest voters could give Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) more than 32 percent support, with a left-wing alliance reaching as high as 30 percent. On Thursday (6/27/2024), pollster Harris Interactive Toluna predicted that the RN was within reach of an absolute majority. Other polls predict that it will fall short.
In all these surveys, a notable increase in participation is expected with respect to the 2022 elections, when in the first round 47.5 percent of those registered on the electoral lists went to the polls. Now the polling institutes estimate that it will be between 63 percent and 66 percent. (afp/efe)
