The leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, said Sunday he wanted to be the “prime minister of all French” if his party wins an absolute majority in the second round of elections.
“The French people have handed down a clear verdict,” Bardella, 28, said after his party came out on top in the first round of the legislative elections. He said he wanted to be the prime minister “of all French,” who is respectful of the constitution in a “cohabitation” with President Emmanuel Macron, but “uncompromising.”
France’s longtime far-right leader Marine Le Pen said voters needed to give her RN an absolute majority in the second round of parliamentary elections so party chief Jordan Bardella can become prime minister.
“Nothing is won and the second round is decisive,” Le Pen told supporters after the RN came out on top in the first round of snap polls. “We need an absolute majority so that Jordan Bardella is in eight days named prime minister by (President) Emmanuel Macron.”
Conservative right-wing party Les Républicains (LR), which according to initial estimates received around 10% of the vote in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections, has refused to call on its voters to vote against the far-right RN in the second round.
“Where we are not present in the second round, considering that voters are free to make their own choice, we are not giving any national instructions and are letting the French express themselves according to their conscience,” the LR leadership said in a statement. “The danger facing our country today is the extreme left,” said LR European deputy François-Xavier Bellamy.
‘Heavy and undisputable’ defeat
France’s hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said Sunday that President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance suffered a “heavy and undisputable” defeat in snap polls and urged French people to vote against the far right.
The leader of La France insoumise (LFI) however said his party would withdraw candidates in constituencies where it came third and where the far-right RN party is leading ahead of the second round of legislative elections.
“Our instructions are simple, direct and clear. Not one more vote, not one more seat for the RN,” Mélenchon added.
Raphaël Glucksmann’s Place publique party called on all third-place parties to withdraw in the face of RN in the event of a three-way tie in the second round of legislative elections, in a statement published Sunday evening. “History is watching and judging us,” adds Place publique, which also calls for a “clear vote” against RN candidates.
Marine Tondelier, National Secretary of the Ecologists party, called for the “construction of a new Republican front” in the second round of legislative elections, directly challenging Emmanuel Macron’s camp.
With AFP
