Polling stations for the surprise snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron to shore up his authority opened this morning, but predictions suggests his gamble may not pay off.
Globalist leader Emmanuel Macron suffered a stinging defeat at the European Union-wide elections in early June, prompting him to call fresh national legislative elections to assert his authority. The message to the French people appears to be one of rejecting what he saw as a protest vote for Marine Le Pen’s populists, defying the voters to give it a repeat performance for something that actually matters, the French Parliament.
Macron has some reason to feel this way, not least because the two-round French electoral system of the Fifth Republic — today’s votes will be resolved with a second ballot next Sunday — was designed to disadvantage non-mainstream parties. But Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) has been content to play the long game, and improves its standing every election.
As is common in European elections, there is over a dozen parties and groups thought likely to pick up seats, and make up the next national parliament. While the Presidency has executive control, as discussed as length in the French newspapers this week the Parliament holds onto the purse strings and making Le Pen’s man, Jordan Bardella, Prime Minister could block President Macron from governing meaningfully.
As it is, the last major poll before election day suggested RN could be in line to grab a third of the votes. The late-stage polling also shows a real surge of interest in this election from voters themselves, with turnout predicted to be as much as a fifth higher than the last election.
Whatever happens between today’s knockout round and next Sunday’s decider, be assured violent street protests are likely to follow. A pretty naked bid to scare the public into backing his globalist-managerialism leadership this week saw President Macron threaten “civil war” if the common man was foolish enough to vote against him. Unions are threatening to strike if Le Pen’s RN win, and the left wing coalition representing a rainbow of interests from pro-Brussels centrists to literal hardline communists have sworn “resistance” — we can probably assume of the black-bloc kind — to Le Pen.
Beyond such immediate concerns, the question remains what this unexpected snap election means for France. French broadsheet Le Figaro cites Elysee Palace gossip that President Macron’s camp is already preparing to call another fresh election if he loses, which by all indication he will. An insider cited said there was no way Macron would leave RN’s Bardella as Prime Minister and would seek to see him dismissed as soon as possible.
Just one problem, though. Under the French constitution, elections must have a 12-month gap before being re-run, so the Palace is allegedly looking at winter 2025 to try and again prop up Macron’s mandate. As things stand, President Macron’s term will not expire until 2027.
