France to vote in election that could put far right in government
(VOVWORLD) - French voters cast their ballots on Sunday in the first round of a snap parliamentary election that could usher in the country's first far-right government since World War Two, a potential sea change at the heart of the European Union.
 Henin-Beaumont, France, June 29, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman) |
President Emmanuel Macron stunned the country when he called the vote after his centrist alliance was crushed in European elections this month by Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN).
However the electoral system can make it hard to estimate the precise distribution of seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, and the final outcome will not be known until the end of voting on July 7.
If the RN does win an absolute majority, French diplomacy could be headed for an unprecedented period of turbulence: with Macron - who has said he will continue his presidency until the end of his term in 2027 - and Bardella jostling for the right to speak for France.
France has had three periods of "cohabitation" - when the president and government are from opposite political camps - in its post-war history, but none with such radically divergent world views competing at the top of the state.
Opinion polls have suggested the RN has a comfortable lead of 33-36% of the popular vote, with a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, in second place on 28-31% and Macron's centrist alliance in third on 20-23%.
The New Popular Front includes a wide range of parties, from the moderate centre-left to the hard-left, eurosceptic, anti-NATO party France Unbowed.