French president 'main victim' of 1st round of snap elections, expert says

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - The French president is the “main victim” of the first round of the country’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, a political expert said.

On June 9, Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and announced early elections after the far-right National Rally (RN) swept more than 31% of the vote in European Parliament elections, defeating his centrist bloc.

In the first round of the snap polls on Sunday, the RN got almost 30% of the vote, ahead of the left-wing and the Macron-backed centrist bloc.

Benjamin Morel, associate professor in law at Paris-Pantheon-Assas University, told Anadolu that Macron was the “main victim” of his own decision to dissolve the National Assembly, the lower chamber of the French parliament.

The second round, this coming Sunday, July 7, could be very decisive, Morel added, stressing that political parties are now calculating ways to counter the RN with whichever candidate has the best chances – either from the left-wing or the centrist alliance.

“Centrist voters will be the arbitrators of the second round,” Morel said.

He added that Macron, who lost his majority in the parliament, can designate whoever he wants as prime minister.

Describing the centrist alliance as the “big loser” of the first round, Morel said. “We have an Emmanuel Macron very, very much isolated. He no longer has true authority in his bloc, nor in the country.”

If the National Rally gets a majority in the second round, Macron could dissolve it again next year, but this would have a negative impact on right-wing voters, he said.

“The National Rally never ever came to power. Those voters are disappointed and marginalized people. If you end this period early, it could provoke lots of frustration and furor, and as a result, it would only strengthen the RN,” he explained.

The RN got 29.5% of the vote by itself – a rate that rises to over 33% when combined with its allies – according to official results released by the Interior Ministry.

The party alone got more than 9.37 million votes, which gives the party 37 seats in parliament.

The left-wing New Popular Front alliance got 27.99% (over 8.9 million votes) and came in second with 32 seats.

The centrist Together for the Republic alliance backed by Macron ranked third, with slightly over 20.04% (over 6.4 million votes), securing only two seats.