A week after French President Emmanuel Macron’s surprising decision to dissolve parliament, the country’s early election campaign officially begins on Monday, with final lists of candidates and alliances hastily concluded.
The parties, which were surprised by Macron’s decision, had until 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, to submit their candidates for the 577 electoral districts. The polls will take place on June 30 and July 7. The far-right party RN (Rassemblement National) is the favorite after its score of 31.4 percent in the European elections.
Fears that the far right will come to power mobilized 250,000 demonstrators in France on Saturday (640,000 according to the union) and plunged the political class into intense machinations.
After a week of confusion, the list of candidates on the right should provide some clarity to voters, including who from the right-wing party LR (les Républicains) will join the presidential majority or who will join RN. The RN party leader, Jordan Bardella (28), according to former president Nicolas Sarkozy, too young and inexperienced for the post of prime minister, announced that “a common candidate” would emerge in 70 electoral districts. He confirmed on Sunday that he wants to privatize the public broadcaster “in the long term” in the event of an election victory.
Marie-Caroline Le Pen, sister of RN faction leader Marine Le Pen, announced her candidacy on Sunday.
Left alliance
On the left, a New Popular Front has been formed in a few days, ranging from small anti-capitalist parties to the social democratic ex-president François Hollande. This alliance, which agreed on a common program despite fundamental differences, received the support of former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (1997-2002) on Sunday. The alliance is the only “dam” that can hold back RN, he said.
The alliance was already struggling with crises that threaten its unity. The leader of LFI (la France Insoumise), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who unsuccessfully ran for president three times and is not liked by some left-wing voters, showed restraint on Sunday. “If you don’t think I should be prime minister, then I won’t be,” he said.
According to a poll commissioned by the news channel BFMTV and the newspaper La Tribune dimanche, one in three French voters want RN to win the elections, one in four the left-wing alliance and one in five Renaissance, Macron’s party.