French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Paris, France:

Europe’s far-right is rising at an unprecedented pace. With Italy already in the bag and Germany seemingly there as the country votes this Sunday, France is not to be left behind. While Marine Le Pen may still be the most dominant figure of the French far-right, another young woman is fast gaining ground.

Sarah Knafo, a prominent leader of France’s far-right nationalist party Reconquest, gained prominence after she and her party chief Eric Zemmour were given invites to the Trump inauguration in January.

Known for her admiration of Donald Trump’s electoral campaign and his resurgence in the US and her strong support for Elon Musk’s outlook towards Europe, Ms Knafo, 31, is fast emerging as the most popular of leaders in France’s far-right factions.

Not to be left behind, Marine Le Pen, 56, also sent three members from her party – National Rally (RN) – for the Trump inauguration. She, however, chose not to attend personally. The last time she was to meet Donald Trump, in 2017, she was famously stood up by the President when she visited him at the Trump Tower in New York.

But during the Trump inauguration this year, Sarah Knafo was not just seen at the US Capitol for his oath ceremony, but also seen getting an invite to the Capital One Arena as well as the Liberty Ball in Washington DC that evening. She attended both with her party’s topmost leader Eric Zemmour.

Their party Reconquest has very strong anti-Islam views, including a complete nationwide ban on the name Mohammad, along with several stringent laws proposed to “deal effectively” with the spread of Islam in France.

As Sarah Knafo now rises from the shadow of 66-year-old Zemmour, she looks to blend Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s approach to appeal to voters in France. While far-right frontrunner Le Pen, who is touted by her party to be France’s next President in 2027, has been wary of her proximity to Trump and Musk as they are widely disliked across Europe, Sarah Knafo has openly embraced her closeness to the US leaders as she aims to be the driving force of her party.

Unlike Le Pen, who does not want to risk the hard-fought gains she has made across France, Knafo’s party which got 7 per cent of the vote share in the previous French presidential election, has an entirely different approach.

In an interview to news agency Reuters, Sarah Knafo said “Reconquest is the only party in France that defends this mix: pro-tech, pro-business, but also the defence of national identity.” Known for her pro-capitalist mindset, she believes that being pro-business and pro-tech is the only way to salvage a socialist country like France from not being left behind.

Like Trump, Knafo’s party has also proposed mass deportations of migrants in order to “preserve French identity”. She has decided to align her party with the new political order across the Atlantic. While she acknowledges that Trump’s techno-conservatism is a hard-sell in France – predominantly a Welfare State, she is confident that Trump would back her over Le Pen if the need arises.

While Le Pen’s party, known for its racist and anti-Semetic elements, has worked on the strategy to “de-demonise” the party to gain ground, Ms Knafo believes that “The de-demonisation aspect is the opposite of what Trump advocates”. “He (Trump) does not have much respect for it,” she added.

Le Pen also has plans to deport migrants should her party win the presidential election in France. She said her party was “the best placed in France to speak with the Donald Trump administration” regarding the issue. She gave the example of how US was pressuring Colombia to receive deported migrants – an approach she wants to emulate in France, should she become President in 2027.

Sarah Knafo studied at France’s prestigious ENA administrative college – the same college where President Emmanuel Macron graduated. She is adept to technology and fintech, and is known as a crypto-aficionado.

Knafo’s proximity to Donald Trump and Elon Musk grew after her speech in Brussels was spotted by Jacob Helberg, a Paris-born tech executive who Trump has nominated to be the State Department’s top economist. He recently invited her to the US for the Miami memorial of Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel. There she had a meeting with Trump just before the US went to vote last year.

Her second meeting with President Trump was after his inauguration. While in the US, she also met crypto billionaire Michael Saylor. She said that the two of them discussed “the upcoming French elections”.

Ms Knafo also recalled how Trump reached out to her party chief Eric Zemmour in 2022 over his stand on Islam and migration. “Don’t give up,” Knafo recalled Trump telling Zemmour in a widely reported 2022 call. “Now you’re visible, all the media will be against you. They’ll say you’re too brutal, too radical. Don’t listen to them. Don’t talk to the media. Talk directly to the people.”

(Inputs from Reuters)
 

French member of parliament and President of the far-right National Rally Marine Le Pen delivers a speech in the National Assembly in Paris. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Paris prosecutor on Wednesday (November 13, 2024) requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial where she and 24 others are accused of embezzling European Union funds.

The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her party’s efforts to polish its image ahead of a 2027 presidential vote many believe she can win.

On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor requested a €300,000 (₹2.67 crore) fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence against Marine Le Pen, with provisional execution. If the court finds her guilty of the charges with this provisional execution, Ms. Le Pen will not be able to run in elections even if she appeals the judgment.

“I note that the prosecution is being extremely outrageous in its demands, particularly with the request for provisional execution, which it wants to impose on everyone being prosecuted,” Ms. Le Pen told reporters while leaving court.

ALSO READ: Rassemblement National: France’s rally towards the right

Ms. Le Pen, the RN party itself, and 24 others — party officials, employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants — are all accused of using European Parliament money to pay staff in France who were working for their party, which at the time was called the National Front.

“I am not surprised by the prosecution’s request for provisional execution. There is a consistency in the prosecution’s demands,” Patrick Maisonneuve, the European Parliament’s lawyer, said.

The trial will last until November 27.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier delivers a speech during a ceremony organised by the Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) to pay tribute to the victims of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, on the event’s first anniversary, in Paris, on October 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Tuesday (October 8, 2024) faces a motion of no-confidence brought by the left which is set to underline the fragility of his government even while having little chance of succeeding.

Mr. Barnier, a right-wing former EU Brexit negotiator, was appointed by centrist President Emmanuel Macron to bring some stability in a potentially testy “cohabitation” across the political divide after inconclusive legislative elections earlier this summer.

The veteran Premier, 73, has since sought to firmly take the reins, warning that France faces a financial crisis if its budget deficit is not narrowed and saying that tax rises could be in order for high earners.

Mr. Macron, whose term runs until 2027, has in the last weeks taken a noticeable back seat, especially on domestic issues while making uncharacteristically infrequent public comments.

The appointment of Mr. Barnier, a patrician figure who served stints as a Minister and EU commissioner, has also been a contrast for the French.

They have seen three Premiers who were almost unknown before their appointment come and go in the space of four years.

But Mr. Barnier and his government, named last month with a conspicuously right-wing tinge, could be toppled at any moment if a no-confidence motion were passed in the National Assembly lower house of government.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) won the most seats of any coalition in the polls— even if the far-right National Rally (RN) emerged as the largest single party— and is still livid that Mr. Macron failed to appoint a leftist as Prime Minister.

“The existence of this government, in its composition and its orientation, is a negation of the result of the legislative elections,” states the motion, which is due to be put forward by Socialist Party (PS) leader Olivier Faure.

The left has also been angered by the hardline stances of the new Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, who has said there should be a referendum on immigration, although he admitted this was not possible under the constitution.

‘Give the product a chance’

However, the motion put forward by the NFP— a coalition of Socialists, Communists, hard-leftists and Greens— has little chance of succeeding as the RN’s MPs under three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen have made clear they will not back it on this occasion.

“I think the situation is serious enough not to bring down this government before it has got going,” RN MP Laure Lavalette told France 2 television.

“We are going to… give the product a chance… We cannot add to the chaos as you (the left) are doing,” she added.

However, the numbers could prove embarrassing for the Barnier government at this early stage, with some backing for the motion coming also from independents and even some dissenting members of Mr. Macron’s centrist faction unhappy at the prospect of tax rises.

Commentators have noted that the fate of Barnier’s government risks being at the RN’s mercy, vulnerable to a “sword of Damocles” wielded by Ms. Le Pen, who is expected to run for the presidency in 2027.

The Prime Minister, for his part, is well aware that he is walking on thin ice: “I know that I am in the hands of parliament,” he told La Tribune Dimanche.

After a shock defeat in France’s legislative elections, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) will double down on weeding out problematic candidates to counter successful efforts by mainstream parties to block the far right from power.

Polls had suggested the RN would secure the most seats in the snap two-round election, which French President Emmanuel Macron called after Ms. Le Pen’s party was the clear victor of June’s European parliamentary vote. Yet the RN ultimately placed third, with its hopes of forming France’s first far-right government since World War II thwarted by centrist and left-wing parties who withdrew about 200 third-placed candidates to unify the anti-RN vote. The strategy, known as the “republican front”, is a feature of French political life and has been used for decades to block the RN from power.

‘Casting errors that cost us dearly’

RN officials and lawmakers who spoke to Reuters believe the party can overcome this electoral barricade if it professionalises further, following a path laid out by Ms. Le Pen after she lost the 2017 presidential election to Macron. That means greater screening of potential candidates and tougher party discipline to avoid costly gaffes, they said.

In the run-up to the vote, media reports unveiled an RN candidate who had been photographed in a Nazi cap and another who sought to defend against the party’s history of racism and antisemitism by saying she had a Jewish eye doctor and Muslim dentist. After the vote, a newly elected RN lawmaker was ejected from the party’s parliamentary group for saying French Arabs had no place in government.

“We have to avoid these casting errors that cost us dearly and clearly hurt us,” said Julien Masson, an RN official in Brittany.

Heads have already begun to roll, with Gilles Pennelle, a member of the European Parliament, stepping down from his role as the RN executive in charge of overseeing candidate lists. “He was blamed for the candidates who were not good, who were not up to the level,” Mr. Masson said. Mr. Pennelle did not respond to requests for comment.

Two RN lawmakers told Reuters there would be more media training to avoid a repeat of embarrassing interviews in which candidates appeared amateurish. RN lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy said the party was judged by an unfair standard, but acknowledged it needed to do better. “You always have to improve,” he told Reuters, adding that Ms. Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege Jordan Bardella would soon announce proposals to address “organisational problems.”

Le Pen’s popularity

Christophe Gervasi, who conducts private polling for the RN, said that as well as inexperienced and ill-disciplined recruits, the party’s tendency to be vague and inconsistent on policy proposals had dented its credibility. The party pledges to cut immigration, reduce fuel costs and be tougher on crime, common themes among populist far-right parties, but has dropped previous positions questioning EU and NATO membership.

Mr. Gervasi said it would be no easy task for the RN to overcome the republican front. “There are endemic structural weaknesses that persist,” he said. “The system is defending itself against the RN’s accession to power.”

Patrick Weil, a historian of the far right, said he doubted that an RN deep-clean would be enough for it to bulldoze the republican front. Much would depend on how the future government pans out and who stands in the 2027 election, in which Ms. Le Pen is likely to make her fourth attempt at the presidency. “If someone popular runs, Marine le Pen will be beaten. If someone very unpopular runs, she will be elected,” he said.

Adélaïde Zulfikarpasic, of BVA Xsight pollsters, said the surprising solidity of the republican front, which many had predicted to crumble in this election, underlined lingering discomfort with the far right. “The RN is undoubtedly still a little scary,” she said. “Its demonisation is not over.”

The tide is rising, says Le Pen

Sunday’s result was not a complete disaster for the RN, which nearly doubled its seats in the National Assembly. The party scooped up nearly a third of the popular vote, a record high for the RN in parliamentary elections.

The party can now watch from the opposition benches as centrist and leftist parties with no tradition of coalition-building guide France through a period of political instability. That could benefit the RN ahead of a 2027 election. “The tide is rising, but it has not risen high enough this time,” Ms. Le Pen said on Sunday. “Our victory is only delayed.”

The day after the vote, Bardella acknowledged the party had made mistakes, including on the choice of some of its candidates, but said the seeds of victory had been sown.

Towns like Nangis, located about 75 k.m. southeast of Paris in the Brie agricultural plain, provide hope for the RN. The constituency was in the hands of the mainstream, conservative right for 66 years until the RN finally wrested it away.

Isabelle Martin, a 52-year-old administrative worker, was among locals who voted for the RN. She was disappointed mainstream parties combined to stop the RN from winning power at the national level, an arrangement she described as “les magouilles”, or dirty deals. But she predicted the resulting political chaos would benefit the RN.

“The others have three years to prove that they can do something good,” Ms. Martin said. “If they haven’t pulled it off by 2027 then maybe (the RN) have a chance.”

People gather at Republique plaza in a protest against the far-right on July 3, 2024 in Paris
| Photo Credit: AP

French voters face a decisive choice on July 7 in the run-off of snap parliamentary elections that could see the country’s first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation — or no party emerging with a majority at all. In Sunday’s first round, the National Rally came first with an estimated one-third of the votes. The New Popular Front coalition that included the center-left, green and left forces polled close to 29% of the vote and came in second place, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance.

If the National Rally or the Left alliance gets a majority, Mr. Macron will be forced to appoint a Prime Minister belonging to a new majority. In such a situation — called “cohabitation” in France — the government would implement policies that diverge from the President’s plan. The rise of a far-right party in France has not been sudden. When Mr. Macron was re-elected in 2022, his vote share did not increase in any department. In contrast, his challenger from the far-right National Rally Marine Le Pen’s vote share rose across the country, resulting in the far-right’s best-ever performance. More importantly, the rise of the Right in European politics is not limited to France.

Also Read | The far-right swing in European Parliament elections | Explained

In last month’s European Parliamentary Elections, right-wing and far-right parties achieved their best performance in the legislative body’s history. The far-right European Conservatives and Reformists Group and the Identity and Democracy Group together increased their tally from 118 to 131 seats in the Parliament, while the left-Greens’ seat share was reduced to 53 from 71.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the vote share secured by right-leaning parties in the national-level polls of the U.K. and select countries in the European Union. 

Chart appears incomplete? Click to remove AMP mode

The vote share of right-leaning parties is increasing at varying degrees of pace in each country. For instance, the vote share of the National Rally increased from just 4% in 2007 to 19% in 2022. The German party, Alternative for Germany, recorded over 10% vote share in the last two elections, with the Sweden Democrats vote share increasing from 2% in 2006 to 20% in 2022 in Swedish polls.

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Given that most such parties have an anti-immigrant stance, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday called for vigilance, citing narratives that dehumanise migrants and asylum seekers. One other impact may be on the nations’ views about NATO, and the ongoing-war between Russia and Ukraine.

Also Read | Comment: The spectre of neo-fascism that is haunting Europe

Polls by Pew Survey indicate that in some European countries, positive views about NATO and confidence in Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy have started to decline. In contrast, slight increases in favourable views towards Russia and confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin were recorded across many European countries in 2024 compared to a year before.

Table 2 | The table lists responses to four questions — Q1: % who have a favourable opinion of NATO; Q2: % who have a favourable view of Russia; Q3: % who have confidence in Mr. Putin to do the right thing; Q4: % who have confidence in Mr. Zelenskyy to do the right thing. The percentage point change in 2024 from 2023 is also listed.

According to Pew Survey, in several European countries, people who have a favourable view of a right-wing populist party in their country see Russia and Mr. Putin more positively than people with unfavourable views of those parties.

Also Read | Turning inward: The Hindu’s Editorial on the rise of far-right parties in Europe

While their support dropped in 2022 and 2023, confidence in Russia and Mr. Putin has climbed back up in 2024 as shown in Chart 3.

Chart 3 | The chart shows the share who have confidence in Russian President, Vladimir Putin, among supporters of right-wing parties.

Note: This article appeared on the print version on July 4, 2024

Source: Pew Research Centre and ParlGov

A woman enters a voting booth in to cast her vote in the French parliamentary elections. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Voters in France’s overseas territories and living abroad started casting ballots on July 6 in parliamentary run-off elections that could hand an unprecedented victory to the nationalist far right.

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party National Rally came out on top of first-round voting last on June 30, followed by a coalition of centre-left, hard-left and Greens parties – and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance in a distant third.

The second-round voting began on July 6 off the Canadian coast in the North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, and followed in French territories in the Caribbean, South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, along with French voters living abroad. The elections wrap up on July 7 in mainland France.

Initial polling projections are expected when the final voting stations close at 8 p.m. Paris time (1800 GMT), with early official results expected late on Sunday and early Monday.

Mr. Macron called the snap legislative vote after the National Rally won the most votes in France in the European Parliament elections last month.

The party, which blames immigration for many of France’s problems, has seen its support climb steadily over the past decade and is hoping to obtain an absolute majority in the second round. That would allow National Rally leader Jordan Bardella to become prime minister and form a government that would be at odds with Macron’s policies on Ukraine, police powers and other issues.

Pre-election polls suggest that the party may win the most seats in the National Assembly but fall short of an absolute majority of 289 seats. That could result in a hung parliament.

Mr. Macron has said he won’t step down and will stay president until his term ends in 2027, but is expected to be weakened regardless of the result.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron leaves the polling booth prior to cast his vote in the first round of parliamentary elections at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France on June 30, 2024. A divided France is voting in high-stakes parliamentary elections that could see the anti-immigrant and eurosceptic party of Marine Le Pen sweep to power in a historic first. The candidates formally ended their frantic campaigns at midnight June 28, with political activity banned until the first round of voting.
| Photo Credit: AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies were on July 1 beginning a week of intense campaigning ahead of the second round of legislative elections to prevent the far-right from taking an absolute majority and control of government in a historic first.

The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen won a resounding victory in the first round of the polls on June 30, with Mr. Macron’s centrists trailing in third behind a left-wing coalition.

But the key suspense ahead of the second round on July 7 was whether the RN would win an absolute majority in the new National Assembly, enabling it to form a government and make Ms. Le Pen’s protege Jordan Bardella, 28, Prime Minister.

Most projections published by French polling organisations showed the RN falling short of an absolute majority, but the final outcome remains far from certain.

A hung parliament could lead to months of political paralysis and chaos — just as Paris is preparing to host the Olympic Games this summer, and while France on the international stage takes a prime role in backing Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the far-right was now at the “gates of power”.

The RN should not get a “single vote” in the second round, he said.

“We have seven days to spare France from catastrophe,” said Raphael Glucksmann, a key figure in the left-wing alliance.

‘Thrown under a bus’

The RN garnered 33% of the vote, compared to 28% for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and more than 20% for Mr. Macron’s centrist camp, according to preliminary results.

But with less than 100 seats being decided outright in the first round, the final composition of the 577-seat National Assembly will only be clear after the second phase.

The second round will see a three-way or two-way run-off in the remainder of the seats to be decided, with Mr. Macron’s camp hoping that tactical voting will prevent the RN winning the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

The French stock market, which had been under considerable pressure in June amid the political uncertainty, also rallied in early trading on hopes the RN would not win an absolute majority.

Mr. Macron in a written statement urged a “broad” coalition against the far-right in the second round, amid controversy among supporters over whether they should tactically vote for the left where needed in the second round.

Late on Sunday, the police said some 8,000 left-wing supporters thronged the Place de la Republique in central Paris to denounce the prospect of the far right taking power.

Risk analysis firm Eurasia Group said the RN now looked “likely” to fall short of an absolute majority.

France was facing “at least 12 months with a rancorously blocked National Assembly and — at best — a technocratic government of ‘national unity’ with limited capacity to govern”, it added.

The left-leaning newspaper Liberation in an editorial called on Macron to remove all his alliance’s candidates from districts when they had arrived in third place to give the left-wing alliance a chance.

“The head of State has thrown France under the bus. The bus has continued its course unimpeded, and is now parked in front of the gates of Matignon”, the prime minister’s office, it said.

‘Prime Minister of all French’

The arrival of the anti-immigration and eurosceptic RN in government would be a turning point in French modern history: the first time a far-right force has taken power in the country since World War II, when it was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Mr. Bardella said he wanted to be the “prime minister of all French”.

This would create a tense period of “cohabitation” with Mr. Macron, who has vowed to serve out his term until 2027.

Mr. Bardella has said he will only form a government if the RN wins an absolute majority in the elections.

Rancour remained over Mr. Macron’s decision to call the election in the first place, a move he took with only a tight circle of advisers in the hours after his party was trounced by the RN in European elections this month.

The chaos risks damaging the international credibility of Mr. Macron, regarded by some as the European Union’s number-one leader and who immediately after the second round will attend the NATO summit in Washington.

The right-wing Le Figaro in its editorial lamented a “disaster” brought about by the “unfathomable lightness of a man, through narcissist rancour, took the risk of plunging his country into chaos”.

Paris:

Emmanuel Macron has taken many risks in a political career marked by countless crises but his decision to call snap elections may be one too many, marring his legacy and ushering in an era of extremes.

The tremors from Macron dissolving the National Assembly after his centrist party suffered a drubbing in European polls remain strong, with even figures close to the president acknowledging unease over the political turmoil.

The far-right National Rally (RN) on Sunday won the first round of legislative elections.

Next week’s second-round results on July 7 could give the party of Macron’s longtime rival Marine Le Pen the post of prime minister for the first time, forcing a tense “cohabitation”.

Macron’s popularity has sunk to the extent that allies suggested he take a back seat in the campaign, with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal leading the way.

For one of Macron’s most loyal supporters, some of the resentment stems from his unexpected rise to the presidency.

“There’s a desire for revenge on the part of politicians who resent his success,” said Francois Patriat, head of the pro-Macron deputies in the upper house Senate.

Always defiant, Macron insisted in a statement as the first results were published on “the importance of this vote for all our compatriots and the desire to clarify the political situation”.

‘Hopeless optimist’

Born in Amiens to two doctors, Macron met his future wife Brigitte when she was his teacher and 25 years his senior.

“He fell in love with his drama teacher when he was 16, and he said he was going to marry her, and then he married her. That’s pretty strong stuff,” said a former classmate from the elite graduate school ENA.

With that same self-confidence, he quit the government of former president Francois Hollande in August 2016 to prepare his run for the presidency, a risky move at the time.

He went on to create En Marche (On the Move), a political movement with the same initials as its leader and won the presidential election in 2017 at the age of 39.

Calling himself a “hopeless optimist,” Macron later said he was able to break through “because France was unhappy and worried”. 

Optimism over the former Rothschild investment banker, who once promoted “Revolution” in his book, quickly soured over his economic policies once in office.

The former economy minister under a Socialist government earned the reputation as “president of the rich” after announcing early in his tenure that he would abolish a tax on high earners.

Then, last year, his move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 sparked mass protests and reinforced the perception that Macron is out of touch with public opinion.

“There are a lot of people who think I’m haughty,” he said. Early quips haunted him, including one when he said the unemployed only needed to “cross the street” to find a job.

The now 46-year-old is convinced that his economic track record speaks for itself, with France considered Europe’s most attractive country for foreign investment and an end to mass unemployment.

But for many, Macron’s promise of centrism has not withstood pressure from a wave of domestic and international crises — or from the far right.

‘Lack of humility’

The anti-government “yellow vest” movement, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine are just a few of the challenges Macron has faced during his tenure.

Even as his support buckles at home, Macron has remained a key voice in European politics.

“We shouldn’t quibble. He’s the great European of his time,” said Franco-German ecologist Daniel Cohn-Bendit, while adding that Macron’s problem was that he was “convinced of being right”.

Macron aligned with allies offering support to Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion, but he irritated many by continuing to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Two years later however, some criticise him for his hawkish stance. Macron refuses to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, a move criticised by other Western countries as unnecessarily inflammatory.

The late Gerard Collomb, former mayor of Lyon, was more direct in his criticism, calling out Macron’s “hubris” and a “lack of humility” in the government.

The perception that Macron is increasingly isolated is part of the problem, said one former advisor. 

“He has no grassroots network… the people around him are the same, they don’t express the mood of the times,” they added.

While the first lady is seen as a moderating figure, Macron has shifted rightward, with some accusing the president of opportunism. 

‘Shifting opinion’

On the evening of his 2017 victory, Macron pledged in front of the Louvre museum to do “everything” in his power to ensure the French “no longer have any reason to vote for the extremes”.

For many, though, the young centrist whom they voted for has shifted further and further right, opening the door for other extremes to take hold.

The same man who drew inspiration from an anti-capitalist party slogan to win re-election in 2022 later adopted the words of extreme right-wing figure Eric Zemmour “so that France remains France”. 

For Le Pen, who senses a chance to take the presidency in 2027, Macron has “a plasticity, an incredible self-confidence which is both his strength and his weakness”.

A former special advisor sees that plasticity differently.

“He’s turning his back on … 2017 and humanist values,” said Philippe Grangeon. “There is no right-wing turn… the president is adapting to shifting opinion.” 

Macron dismisses these criticisms, saying he ultimately relies on himself. “You make the toughest decisions on your own,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Supporters of Marine Le Pen, French far-right leader and far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally – RN) party candidate, celebrate after partial results in the first round of the early French parliamentary elections, in Henin-Beaumont, France, on June 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party was seen leading the first round of parliamentary elections with around 34% of votes, pollsters IFOP, Ipsos, OpinionWay and Elabe said on Sunday.

The leftwing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition was seen coming in second with around 29%, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc in third spot with between 20.5-23%.

Elabe said in an estimate for BFM TV that the National Rally and its allies could win between 260-310 parliament seats in the second voting round on July 7, while Ipsos projected a range of 230-280 seats for RN and its allies in a poll for France Television.

289 seats are needed for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament.