Julia also blames the presidential camp for “compare NFP to RN” and not having given, for the time being, clear instructions for the second rounds where NFP and RN candidates would face each other.”I don’t agree with Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s strategy, but putting the two on an equal footing is unspeakable. I vote every time and I vote left. But I voted for Macron twice, in the second round of the last two presidential elections, to block the far right. I held my nose, but I did it.”
Pierre, a 76-year-old Guadeloupean on vacation in Paris, is also very worried. “I really fear an absolute majority for the RN, that the extreme right comes to power. I hope that the trend will reverse in the second round, that the RN does not pass, but I am not sure that this is possible. The situation is serious, we are plunging into the unknown. I fear for the stability of the country. I also fear an increase in racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic attacks.”
“Sunday, it will be the RN or the NFP”
500 meters from Place de la République, the socialists are gathered in a building on Boulevard Saint-Martin. At 8 p.m., when the results came in, the faces of the party officials remained closed for a few minutes. They almost seem stunned. The NFP comes in second position (28.1%), far behind the RN and its allies (34%), but also far in front of the presidential camp (20.3%). According to the first polls relating to the outcome of the second round, the far right could obtain up to 280 seats, the absolute majority being set at 289 deputies; projections to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Legislative elections: the National Rally wins the first round with 34%
Facing the journalists, MEP Pierre Jouvet was the first to speak. “This is a very heavy defeat for the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and today, we are facing our destiny, facing our history, with the risk of seeing the extreme right come to power. Next Sunday, it will be the New Popular Front against the National Rally. Next Sunday, the country could be led by the extreme right, or it could have left-wing and progressive forces at its head.”
Pierre Jouvet then called on Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the entire presidential camp to take their responsibilities and send a clear message in terms of voting instructions for the second round.The New Popular Front is qualified in a very large majority of constituencies for next Sunday. Concerning us, the socialists have always stood in the way of the extreme right. This is a central fight for us. Today, in constituencies where the far right can win in the second round and where left-wing candidates would not be in a position to win, we clearly call for beating the far right, everywhere in France.”
French legislative elections: Emmanuel Macron reacts to the results of the first round
In other words: these socialist candidates will withdraw. A few minutes later, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon said exactly the same thing. However, it is not certain that the presidential camp will call for a vote for an NFP candidate in the event of a duel against an RN candidate.
Little by little, the people present at the PS election evening leave the premises and join the Place de la République, for the gathering of the New Popular Front.The time is serious”says MEP and president of the Young Socialists Emma Rafowicz, whose family left Poland in the 1920s.to avoid pogroms and persecution of Jews. “We will have to fight, every second, until next Sunday.”
