French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he would "act until May 2027," the end of his second term, regardless of who wins the snap parliamentary elections he called. "The incoming government, which will necessarily reflect your vote, will I hope resemble the various republicans who will have shown the courage to oppose the extremes," Macron added in an open letter published in regional newspapers.
The president surprised the country by dissolving the Assemblée Nationale after the far right trounced his coalition in the European Parliament elections earlier this month.
Polls suggest that the far-right Rassemblement National will come out on top of the snap vote whose first round is set for June 30. Marine Le Pen, the party's figurehead, has said Macron's resignation could be the only solution to avoid a hung parliament for the remaining three years of his term.
"You can trust me to act until May 2027 as your president, protector at every moment of our republic, our values, respectful of pluralism and your choices, at your service and that of the nation," Macron said in the letter. He insisted that the coming vote, with a second round on July 7, was "neither a presidential election, nor a vote of confidence in the president of the republic" but a response to "a single question: who should govern France?"
Macron acknowledged that his decision to call the snap polls had generated for some voters "anger that has turned against me. The goal cannot be to just continue as things were. I have heard that you want change," he added, noting in particular his administration's "much stronger and firmer responses" on "insecurity and impunity."
"Yes, the way we govern must change profoundly," he wrote. "The government to come, which will necessarily reflect your vote, will, I hope, bring together republicans of different persuasions who have shown courage in opposing the extremes."