France goes to polls on Sunday for the second round of an election expected to deliver a right-wing triumph in what has been a starkly divided national parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron called the snap elections three years ahead of time after his neo-liberalist forces were roundly trounced in June’s European parliament vote, a political gamble that has spectacularly backfired, AFP reports.
Marine Le Pen’s surging right-wing populist National Rally (RN) triumphed in the June 30 opening round and remains set to repeat the feat in Sunday’s run off races.
Her supporters see their vote punishing the elite political class they see as out of touch with everyday people and their concerns such as crime, purchasing power, and unconstrained immigration surging through open borders.
It remains to be seen if her level of national support is sufficient to land the absolute majority that would force Macron to appoint Le Pen’s lieutenant, the RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 28, as the country’s youngest ever prime minister just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympics.
The past seven days have seen more than 200 tactical-voting pacts between centre and left-wing candidates in seats in a desperate attempt to prevent the RN winning total victory.
As Breitbart News reported, in some cases even quite senior politicians including serving cabinet ministers are standing down to give others who scored more highly in the first round a clear run at beating Le Pen’s RN.
One such case is Macronist Dominique Faure, the minister for Communities and Rural Affairs, who only came third in her constituency on Sunday and is throwing her support behind a socialist to beat the first place RN.
Many in France remain baffled over why Macron called an election which could see the RN doubling its presence in parliament and his contingent of leftist MPs halving in number.
But the president, much given to theatrical gestures, appears intent on executing what he calls a “clarification” of French politics, which he hopes will eventually leave three clear camps of right, centre and hard left.
“France is on the cusp of a seismic political shift,” said analysts at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) as noted by AFP, warning even if Macron controlled the government after the election he would face “legislative gridlocks”.
Macron, who disappeared from public view over recent days in order not to provoke the electorate further, has vowed to serve out his term until 2027, when he must step down.
Initial polling projections are expected when the final voting stations close at 8pm Paris time (1800 GMT), with early official results expected late Sunday night into early Monday morning.