This Saturday, French people abroad, who did not vote online between June 25 and 27, will be able to do so in person for the first round of the legislative elections which will be held this Sunday in France. ONFR went to take the temperature with the French of Ontario for this election which could see the National Rally of Jordan Bardella obtain a majority in the National Assembly.
Flashback to June 9, after the victory of the National Rally (RN) in the European elections with a score of 31.4% for the party led by Jordan Bardella. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron then created a general surprise by announcing the dissolution of the National Assembly, precipitating legislative elections, which will be held this weekend, this Sunday, June 30, for the first round.
A decision which also surprised on the other side of the Atlantic. Joël Etienne is a lawyer in various fields, born in Canada but of French nationality through his mother. He is very interested in French politics, although he admits to not being active, not always voting in the various French elections, focusing on his political commitments in Canada. For him, Emmanuel Macron’s decision is very difficult to understand.
“For me, it was an instinctive impulse that wasn’t necessarily calculated and I think he’s going to pay a high price for that.”
An opinion shared by another French citizen living in Canada since 2020, and who wished to remain anonymous. The latter well sums up a general feeling shared by many French people in mainland France but also abroad.
“It was a big surprise. I would say it was a shock, as it is for many. I wasn’t expecting it at all, it took me a bit of training. It’s a decision that I have a little difficulty understanding strategically and politically. »
Under the Fifth Republic, this is only the sixth time that a president has resorted to dissolving the National Assembly. The last one dates back to April 21, 1997 under the presidency of Jacques Chirac. What followed at the time was cohabitation between a right-wing president and a left-wing government.
“I never imagined seeing this”
This time, the situation could repeat itself with the RN, formerly the National Front (FN), a political party led by the Le Pen family. While the party is doing everything it can to modernize itself by working on a smoother image, notably through the efforts of its new headliner Jordan Bardella, it has not completely forgotten its far-right roots either.
since the war in Ukraine and closely follow the legislative elections.
Photo: Courtesy of Marcelle Lean
The idea that such a party could come to power worries Marcelle Lean enormously. The director and founder of Cinéfranco left France more than 50 years ago but still has family and many friends in mainland France, particularly in the Paris region where she grew up, near Sarcelles, but also in Strasbourg.
Although she admits that she is no longer able to vote because she did not renew her French papers, these latest events have pushed her to mobilize and want to take steps to become active again in her civic participation. Ms. Lean also followed the legislative campaign closely, particularly through the debates organized between the different party representatives.
“I am very worried because the debate that I followed on Tuesday showed me a Jordan Bardella who was sure of being the prime minister at Matignon with arrogance. He was already setting himself up as a winner. While this debate has demonstrated the total incompetence and ignorance of the RN and the left in relation to everything relating to finances in France. »
Maintaining a special relationship with France, due to his Haitian origins on his father’s side, and French on his mother’s side, with a maternal grandfather who was a war hero decorated by Charles De Gaulle, Joël Etienne brings a historical perspective on the evolution of political ideas in France.
“I have always had this view on French politics between the right, the socialists and the descendants of Vichy France, since I was young. What I find interesting today is this unprecedented ideological and political fluidity. For me, Mitterrand and De Gaulle must be turning in their graves. Seeing that the RN, the descendants of Vichy, could take the legislative elections, is something that was impossible in my head. I never imagined seeing that,” he says.
He continues: “The vote for the FN has always been a vote of protest, but no one saw this as a real possibility of accessing power for these people. That a party with this pro-Vichy history can come to power in the National Assembly is something…”
To block?
Historically, during major elections, the French have blocked the far right by mobilizing to prevent the FN from gaining power, as in the presidential elections of 2002 and 2017. The French citizen testifying anonymously does not imagine the RN being able to take power.
To explain: “I am confident that the RN will have difficulty getting more than 40% of the votes and that the other voters will fall back on the opponents. So, that will act as a barrier. Afterwards, I am not sure that a political force will emerge from these elections. Honestly, I don’t really believe in the Popular Front vote because there are a lot of internal divisions and I am not sure that they will manage to form a government. I think that we are going to have a big mess after these elections without necessarily having a clear winner. We will see and I hope I am wrong.”
Conversely, this absence of an opposing political force to stand up to him does not reassure Mr. Etienne.
“But where is the dam this time? Jean-Luc Mélenchon? He quips. I don’t see, other than Emmanuel Macron himself, where the blockage at the RN could come from. My perspective is the following: I wonder if France, the country of rights and freedoms, the country of human rights, of the French Revolution, could really change,” questions the lawyer.
A feeling shared by Ms Lean who fears a battle of extremes in the second round.
“In the second round, what will we end up with? A choice between the RN and France Insoumise? I’m not even saying the left, but France Insoumise,” adds the founder of Cinéfranco. “In my opinion, France is heading towards a catastrophe, both political, economic and human, where ambitions will exploit the fractures that exist in French society. Mélenchon uses Muslims to achieve his ends while the RN uses nationalists, it must be said, to fight immigration. They will really exploit these fractures.”
“The French are fed up,” she continues, “but this rise of the far right almost everywhere in Europe is really worrying. »
All eyes will be on the results this Sunday while waiting for the second round which is scheduled for July 7.
