The Beginning of Macron’s End
The beginning of the end for Emmanuel Macron’s political coalition, the President of France, has been marked by a significant decline in the first round of parliamentary elections. He has called for unity with the ‘Unyielding France’ Socialist Party, but the rest of the left shows little interest in this alliance.
After the right-wing party led in the first round of these elections on Sunday evening, Emmanuel Macron’s coalition tried to pressure the left to form an alliance. However, there is division within the left camp about allying with ‘Unyielding France’.
According to initial estimates, the presidential coalition has received between 20.7% to 22.1% of the vote.
Macron’s party has clearly fallen behind the right-wing National Rally party, which received between 33.5% to 34% of the vote, and the left-wing New People’s Front, which garnered between 28.1% to 29.1% of the vote. Macron’s party experienced its greatest political fortune from 2017 to 2022, securing over 32% of the vote in the first round and winning 350 seats to gain a majority in the National Assembly. However, in 2022, it suffered a heavy defeat by losing the majority of seats in the French parliament.
Despite this, Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as head of government. However, the current National Assembly election results indicate the end of the Macron era. Although the surprise dissolution of the Assembly by the President was not fruitful, it prevented a total government defeat.
The French President, who since entering the Élysée Palace has been accused by everyone of one-sided and top-down power displays, is for the first time on the verge of coexisting with the right-wing. To avoid this, he must seek an agreement with the left.
In a written statement, the French head of government spoke about entering the second round of elections and called for a comprehensive alliance of the Democratic and Republican Front in facing the National Rally. He wrote in this statement that if we do not bring ‘Unyielding France’ with us, the far-right is on the brink of gaining power.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal added, ‘Our goal is clear: we must prevent the National Rally from leading in the second round of elections.’ Despite several hundred majority representatives participating in the second round, the French Prime Minister announced the withdrawal of third-place candidates, as their retention would lead to the National Rally party candidate’s victory over other candidates who, like us, defend republican values.
However, this ambiguous stance towards ‘Unyielding France’ does not apply to all members of the Renaissance Party, which is Macron’s party.
Former Minister Clément Beaune, who also lost his parliamentary seat, says, ‘To clear up ambiguities, we must set aside ifs and buts. The political reality is that the far-right is on the verge of gaining power; hence, we must not hesitate and should prevent this from happening.’
Roland Lescure, the French Minister of State for Industry, also said that to prevent the National Rally from gaining an absolute majority of seats, everything must be done, and majority colleagues who are in third place should be removed from the Assembly.
On the opposing side, Élisabeth Borne, the French Minister for the Fight Against Discrimination, said she would never vote for ‘Unyielding France,’ and Yaël Braun-Pivet, the outgoing President of the National Assembly, announced that under no circumstances could she invite others to vote for candidates who do not align with majority values.
Benjamin Haddad from the Renaissance Party said, ‘I will never align with ‘Unyielding France.’ Combating the disastrous project of the National Rally does not mean I will tolerate even a shred of anti-Semitism and violence.’
François Bayrou and Hervé Marseille, heads of the Union of Democrats and Independents, while criticizing ‘Unyielding France,’ called for a case-by-case review of candidates and their constituencies.
