Since taking office in 2011, leader Marin Le Pen has sought to rid the National Front – now called the National Rally (RN) – of the anti-Semitic image it has gained under its father’s nearly 40-year leadership. former paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen. With 42% of the vote in the April presidential election, Le Pen had already taken advantage of the general frustration with President Emanuel Macron and identified anger across the country over the rising cost of living and the decline of many rural communities. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register On Sunday, he went one step further. According to estimates, Lepen’s party will win between 85-90 seats, from just two in 2012 and eight in 2017, which could make it the second largest party in parliament. The big pollsters last week counted only 25-50 seats. “We have achieved our three goals: to make Emanuel Macron president of a minority, without control of power, and to continue the political reshuffle necessary for democratic renewal,” a triumphant Le Pen told reporters after her re-election in northern France. the promise. to be a respectable opposition. Marine Le Pen, candidate of the far-right French National Rally (Rassemblement National) party, looks at the second round of the French parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, France, June 19, 2022. REUTERS / Johanna Geron read more “And the formation of a determined opposition group against the deconstructors from above, the Macronists and the Noupes from below,” he said, referring to the left-wing coalition, which should become the largest opposition bloc in parliament, but whose main far left party, La France Insoumise, is set to win fewer seats than the RN. Sunday’s result killed the so-called “republican front” of voters from all walks of life who had rallied behind a ruling candidate to prevent the far right from advancing. He also vindicated Le Pen’s strategy to reshape the party’s image, and also refused to join forces with nationalist politician Eric Zemour after the presidential vote. While in terms of seats, Lepen’s party will be behind the left wing, it will allow the RN to have much more weight in parliament. It will be able, for example, to vote no-confidence against the government, send bills to France’s highest constitutional courts, chair parliamentary committees and have much more time to speak in the National Assembly. “We are facing a democratic shock due to a very strong breach by the Rassemblement National,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told France 2 television. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by John Irish? Edited by: Daniel Wallis Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
