In Sunday’s snap legislative elections in France, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardell’s nationalist-right Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN) achieved significant gains, reaching 33.1% of the vote alongside its allies, according to the Interior Ministry. NR nearly doubled its score compared to the 2022 elections, positioning itself for a potential first-time power grab.
Following his coalition’s setback in the European elections, President Emmanuel Macron, who called for these snap elections on June 9, finds his alliance ranking third with 20% of the vote. Meanwhile, the left-wing alliance, Nouveau Front Populaire, garnered 28%.
Le Pen urged voters to grant her party an “absolute majority” in the National Assembly in Sunday’s upcoming second round (featuring the top two candidates in every district where no one gained more than 50%).
“We need an absolute majority so that in eight days Emmanuel Macron names Jordan Bardella as prime minister,” she stated, emphasizing the RN’s readiness to steer France’s recovery and prevent what she described as a leftist inclination towards violence from taking hold.
LE PEN AND FRENCH JEWS
Marine Le Pen has described herself as the candidate most likely “to most effectively protect French people of the Jewish faith,” who are victims of “increasingly numerous” antisemitic acts.
“I have been the victim of a form of caricature for decades. I want Jews to be able to stay in France,” she said.
She also explained the statements of her party’s acting president, Jordan Bardella, who said kosher slaughter would be banned in France, as would Halal slaughter. His statements on kosher meat caused fear in the Jewish community of France, and Le Pen explained that once elected president, all ritual slaughter would be banned in France but not meat imports.
“It is a question of animal suffering… Of course, the importation of meat can be carried out to satisfy religious considerations,” she said.
EVERYTHING CAN CHANGE THIS SUNDAY
The composition of the upcoming legislature hinges significantly on how Macron and left-wing parties guide their supporters in the next vote. In recent years, the tradition of the “republican front” — where parties unite behind candidates with the best chance of defeating the “far right” (that’s the folks on the right who reject the mainstream elites), regardless of party affiliation — has eroded.
Following the initial estimates, Macron issued a statement urging voters to block the “far-right” in the second round. “Confronted with the National Rally, it is time for a broad, clearly democratic and republican coalition in the second round,” he remarked. He commended the increased voter turnout as a sign of “a desire among French voters to clarify the political landscape.”
The complete results are still pending, but 46 candidates can rest easy. Thanks to a high voter turnout of 69%, they’ve secured their seats in the National Assembly without needing a second-round vote. Among those, the National Rally emerges as the big winner, with 37 of its candidates clinching immediate victory. This includes party leader Marine Le Pen and Sebastien Chenu. Emmanuel Macron’s coalition managed just one direct election, with a candidate winning in Wallis and Futuna.
Sunday’s second round will feature, among hundred others:
Francois Hollande, the former French President (2012-2017) who came in first in with 37.63% of the votes.
Marie-Caroline Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s sister and Jordan Bardella’s stepmother, who came in first in Sarthewith 39.26%.
