President Emmanuel Macron has announced early parliamentary elections will be held later this month following a landslide victory for his rival Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in the European Parliament elections.
Exit polls showed the far-right party was on track to win 32% of the vote, more than double the number won by the president’s Renaissance party.
The prime minister announced the dissolution of Parliament and said two votes would take place on June 30 and July 7, just a few weeks before the Paris Olympics.
Macron made the dramatic and surprise decision in a televised address from the Elysee Palace, an hour after polls closed in France’s European elections and the exit polls were published.
- author, Hugh Schofield
- role, BBC News, Paris
His decision came shortly after Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of the National Coalition, publicly called on the president to hold parliamentary elections.
“I have heard your message,” the president told French voters, “and I will not leave it unanswered.”
“France needs a clear majority of calm and harmony,” he said, adding that France could not accept the advance of the far-right “everywhere on the continent”.
Just two years into his second term as president, Macron already lacks a majority in the French parliament, and while the European vote technically has no impact on domestic politics, he clearly decided that continuing in office without a new national consultation would put too much strain on the system.
The upcoming parliamentary elections are separate from the presidential election and are unlikely to affect Macron’s own job, as he still has three years left in his term as president.
Le Pen, who lost twice to Macron in presidential elections, responded immediately, saying her party was “ready to use its power, ready to put an end to mass immigration.”
Calling early elections would be a major surprise for the country and a big risk for President Macron.
He could have responded differently, by continuing to explain the far-right’s overwhelming victory as a European anomaly that would be rectified in more significant elections.
He could have turned to the upcoming European Football Championship in Germany and especially the Paris Olympics to take people’s minds off politics for a few months.
Certainly, that is how commentators in Paris thought he would react to his party’s crushing defeat.
However, the only thing we can assume is that the president foresaw this situation and planned how to respond in advance.
Certainly, the results were pretty much in line with the polls, so he would have had plenty of time to consider his options.
The fact is, he’s stuck.
Without a majority, it is already difficult for any legislation to pass in Parliament, and with a clear majority of the population opposed to the president, any new legislation, such as the next budget, could have explosive effects.
So he opted for clarity: if the National Coalition gets the votes, he says, they should be given a chance to take power.
The president is clearly hoping that his Renaissance Party can fight back in the June 30 and July 7 elections — or that other parties will do better.
But he must understand that the National Coalition is likely to win again — maybe not as overwhelmingly as Sunday’s result, but enough to make it the largest party in parliament.
At that point, Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardera could become prime minister.
