The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) had hoped for a celebratory evening with champagne but had to settle for stale sparkling wine. As the clock struck at 8 pm on Sunday, July 7, at the Pavillon Chesnaie du Roy in the Bois de Vincennes, east of Paris, a quiet tension fell over the attendees.
The party leaders, aware of the defeat, isolated themselves in an upstairs space. What remained were well-dressed militants frozen in front of the big screen. Their distress was captured by cameras that thought they had come to film shouts of joy. There were murmurs: "Dammit, we're third..." "It's a load of rubbish, they've cheated." One woman, who has endured other defeats, blamed the usual suspects: "The French are idiots! A people of morons!" Later on TV channel France 2, the re-elected RN lawmaker Julien Odoul expressed his bitterness: "They're going to pay the price for this submission. They're going to pay the price of this non-choice."
The far right did not win the absolute majority in the Assemblée Nationale that it pretended to believe in. Nor did it win the relative majority it thought it deserved. On the eve of the vote, an RN leader shared his conclusions after diving into the 577 constituencies: 211 guaranteed MPs and 273 possible. The party in the end won 143 seats, including the seats of certain right-wing Les Républicans (LR) lawmakers who are allied to the RN. This count also includes the seat of Daniel Grenon, who as per RN president Jordan Bardella, was expected to sit as a non-attached member after comments he made in the regional paper L'Yonne Républicaine suggesting that French citizens who also have a North African nationality should not be appointed as ministers.
This incident brought into focus the xenophobic tendencies of some mid-level officials within the RN, which were highlighted during the election campaign. Could it be a key factor in the far right's setback?
For the time being, the party doesn't want to ask itself any questions about what cost it the victory it had predicted. It emphasizes the need for positivity and highlights the considerable increase in the RN parliamentary group. It also questions whether it is the main beneficiary of the political "clarification" sought by President Emmanuel Macron. In fact, the considerable parliamentary uncertainty and potential coalition formation may benefit a movement that has yet to be fully tested.
On Sunday, the few members of Parliament present in the Bois de Vincennes denounced what they called a "single party" facing them, "tinkering" and "scheming." "Tonight, an old world has fallen, and nothing can stop a people who have begun to hope again," said ex-future prime minister Bardella, without conviction or inspiration.
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