Night had already fallen on the prime minister's residence on Sunday, June 30, when Gabriel Attal, a serious expression on his face, approached the lectern. It was nearly 10 pm and the first round of France's parliamentary elections has just inflicted a crushing defeat on President Emmanuel Macron's coalition. The results were not as bad as feared, but there was no longer any room for doubt. The prime minister was well aware that he was living his final days in the role. At 35, he sometimes reflected on how lucky he was to occupy such a high office at such a young age. But he may well be giving way to far-right Marine Le Pen's 28-year-old protégé, Jordan Bardella. The Rassemblement National (RN), widely ahead in the polls, is on the doorstep of power, close to winning a majority of seats in the Assemblée Nationale. The left-wing alliance of the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), comprising the Socialists, the Greens, the Communists and La France Insoumise (LFI) came in second, leaving Macron's camp, the coalition of Renaissance MoDem Horizons, far behind.
It has been a total failure for French President Emmanuel Macron, who on June 9 decided to dissolve the Assemblée Nationale in order, he said, to regain control. But it was Attal who had to find the right words to "prevent the worst from happening." Tonight "is not an evening like any other," he said. The former Socialist, himself a candidate in the 10th constituency of Hauts-de-Seine, promised not to beat about the bush. After having fiercely campaigned against "the extremes," castigated the RN but also the "chaos" represented, according to him, by the NFP policy platform, dominated, he said, by LFI, the prime minister on Sunday made a distinction between an enemy, the RN, and a political adversary, the NFP.
The battle of the second round is not the same as that of the first. Attal spoke of a "moral duty" and of living "up to France's destiny." "Our objective is clear," he said: "to prevent the Rassemblement National from having an absolute majority in the second round, from dominating the Assemblée Nationale and therefore from governing the country with the disastrous project it has in mind." He continued: "I say this with the force that the moment calls for from each every and every one of our voters. Not a single vote must go to the Rassemblement National. In such circumstances, France deserves no hesitation. Never." He called on the presidential coalition's candidates who were ranked third but qualified for three-way runoffs to withdraw in order to help prevent the election of a far-right MP.
You have 67.69% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.