French President Emmanuel Macron called on voters in his country to form a grand coalition to confront extremism, while Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called for preventing the far right from dominating Parliament after topping the first round of French legislative elections and becoming close to reaching government for the first time in the country's history, which There were demonstrations protesting his rise.

“In the face of the National Rally, it is now time for a broad coalition that will be clearly democratic and republican in the second round,” Macron said in a written statement distributed to the media yesterday evening, Sunday.

Macron praised the large participation in the first round of elections, considering that it "demonstrates the importance of this vote for all our citizens and the will to clarify the political situation," adding that "their democratic choice obliges us." This was after he brought together the heads of the center-right parties with whom he has been ruling since 2017.

According to the preliminary results, the far right in France, represented by the National Rally Party, topped the preliminary result in the first round of the legislative elections that took place yesterday nationwide, and the party obtained 33% of the votes, followed by the New Popular Front, representing the left movement, with 28%, while The camp of French President Emmanuel Macron received only 22%.

For his part, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal appealed to voters "not to give the extreme right even a single vote in the second round of the general elections" scheduled for next Sunday.

“The extreme right is on the verge of power, and may achieve an absolute majority,” Atal said, adding, “Our goal is clear: to prevent the National Rally Party from winning in the second round.” "No vote should go to the National Rally Party."

As for the leader of the extreme right, Marine Le Pen, she confirmed that “Macron’s camp has practically been wiped out,” announcing her re-election from the first round in her Pas-de-Calais district in the north of the country.

The Republican Party (conservative right), which received about 10% of the votes in the first round of the legislative elections according to the first estimates, refused to invite its voters to vote against the far-right National Rally in the second round.

The party leadership said in a statement, "As we will not be present in the second session, and given that voters are free in their choice, we will not issue national instructions, and we will let the French express based on their consciences." Republican European Representative François-Xavier Bellamy considered that "the danger threatening our country today is the extremist left."

In the left camp, environmentalists, socialists and communists have announced that they will withdraw if there is another candidate in a better position to prevent the National Rally from winning. The head of the Radical Left Bloc, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also announced the withdrawal of the left-wing candidates who came in third place yesterday.

Mélenchon, leader of the "Proud France" party, believed that the election results constitute a "heavy and indisputable defeat for President Macron," and said, "In adherence to our principles and firm positions in all previous elections, we withdraw our candidacy because we only ranked third."

While he said that the second round of elections would lead either to the division of society, or to the consolidation of cooperation and the public interest, the member of the European Parliament from the left, Raphael Glucksmann, warned against the rise of the right, saying, “We have 7 days to spare France from disaster.”

demonstrations

As part of popular reactions, thousands of people in France took to the streets yesterday to demonstrate against the rise of the far right in the wake of the strong performance of the National Rally Party in the first round of parliamentary elections.

People gathered in Paris and many other cities to protest against Marine Le Pen's party and the shift towards the right in France. Republic Square in the capital witnessed a massive protest gathering after a call for demonstrations by the new leftist coalition. Prominent leftist politicians also participated in the protest.

Protest marches also took place in Nantes, Dijon, Lille and Marseille. According to media reports, clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in Lyon, the third largest city in France. Barricades were set up and police officers were beaten with bottles and fireworks.

Results and concerns

With its best result in its history in the first round of legislative elections, the National Rally has great hope of obtaining a relative or absolute majority on July 7, which will determine the number of seats that the blocs will obtain in the National Assembly.

If its president, Jordan Bardella, becomes prime minister, it will be the first time since World War II that a far-right government will rule France. But the head of the National Rally had previously announced that he would not accept this position unless his party obtained an absolute majority.

Yesterday, after the first estimates were issued, Bardella reiterated that he wants to be “prime minister for all French people,” stressing that “the French people have made a clear judgment.”

The matter will lead to an unprecedented coexistence between Macron, the president carrying the European project, and a government more hostile to the European Union. This will weaken the president’s authority and place national policy in the hands of the prime minister more than in the hands of the head of state in most files, according to what observers believe.

The second possible scenario is a faltering National Assembly without the possibility of forging alliances in light of great polarization between the parties, which threatens to plunge France into the unknown.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies