EU elections and related matters (e.g. France)

[nw1]

Thought I'd set up a thread for this rather than clog up the UK election thread.

French elections incoming also.

Seems to be parliamentary and not presidential, so Macron will presumably remain president until his term expires. Even still, if the National Front win the most seats in the parliament that will be very, very concerning indeed.

In all honesty I am not impressed by some of the incoming results in the EU elections. The extremist, ultra-right AfD for example getting 16% in Germany, more than the Social Democrats. There have been allegations that they may want to deport all non-Germans, visa, citizenship or not (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68029232)

Discussion allegedly focused on so-called "remigration" - the removal of millions of asylum seekers, "non-assimilated" people and those with "non-German" backgrounds, even if they hold residency rights and citizenship.

And then Le Pen getting twice the vote of Macron.The US led by Trump and France led by Le Pen in a few years would be very worrying indeed: two normally-friendly countries, both key Western and NATO players, being led by hard-right presidents whose values stand in direct opposition to many of our own. I suspect NATO would be much weakened, as would "liberal western values" in general.

Some sign of the young abandoning the Greens for the far-right. I thought the young were supposed to trend more leftwards and were especially concerned about concerns such as climate change?

The main explanation for the far-right vote seems to be that "people are fed up of mainstream parties" (of the centre-right or centre-left) because they do nothing for them. I'd like an explanation of what these people think the far-right can do for them, though. The far-right are not generally known for kindness and helping people out who are struggling; socialists are the group most likely to do that. The far-right will do nothing except increase division in society.

Have also heard "security" as an explanation; again perhaps such voters might like to observe that many of these far-right parties appear to be more Russia-sympathetic than the traditional parties of the centre-right or centre-left. Orban, Salvini amongst others - I'm looking at you. By voting in the far-right, I suspect countries are more at risk of malign Russian influence, not less.

 

[JamesT]

Some sign of the young abandoning the Greens for the far-right. I thought the young were supposed to trend more leftwards and were especially concerned about concerns such as climate change?

The main explanation for the far-right vote seems to be the tired old argument that "people are fed up of mainstream parties". I'd like an explanation of what these people think the far-right can do for them, though. The far-right are not generally known for kindness and helping people out who are struggling; socialists are the group most likely to do that. The far-right will do nothing except increase division in society.

Have also heard "security" as an explanation; again perhaps such voters might like to observe that many of these far-right parties appear to be more Russia-sympathetic than the traditional parties of the centre-right or centre-left. Orban, Salvini amongst others - I'm looking at you. By voting in the far-right, I suspect countries are more at risk of malign Russian influence, not less.

I think this is where labelling parties as 'Far Right' is unhelpful.
'Nationalist' would be somewhat more appropriate for Marine Le Pen, protectionist policies that would benefit France over other countries are at odds with the usual economic liberalisation associated with the right.

 

[nw1]

I think this is where labelling parties as 'Far Right' is unhelpful.

Or it could be telling it like it is rather than trying to make excuses for them. Certainly AfD seems, to me, to be absolutely abhorrent.

And it should be said that the BBC has described Le Pen as far-right:

French election: Le Pen angered by protest over ties to Putin

The two rivals for the presidency trade accusations after a woman is manhandled during the campaign.

www.bbc.co.uk

The far-right candidate refused to apologise and said the protester had been tackled by an interior ministry protection officer. "It was a policeman who challenged that woman and who got hurt in the process," she said. "He got injured while detaining her and couldn't complete the job of removing her."

 

[renegademaster]

Macron thinks he's going to pull a Boris and increase his majority to embarras his political rivals , hopefully he doesn't end up pulling a Theresa May instead. Does seem odd if your are worried by a surge in a right wing party to call an election right after a big win. We didn't have snap elections every time Farage done well in an EU election

 

[Enthusiast]

In all honesty I am absolutely repulsed by some of the incoming results in the EU elections. The extremist, ultra-right AfD for example getting 16% in Germany, there have been allegations that they may want to deport all non-Germans, visa, citizenship or not (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68029232)


Don't AfD voters actually understand what went on in the 1930s in their own country? Are they completely ignorant of history?

I doubt they are. But unfortunately this is the sort of thing that happens when politicians ignore the electorate. They eventually find someone to vote for. Like it or not, immigration is obviously a huge issue for many Germans and nobody seems to want to take them seriously apart from AfD. If the other parties had done so, AfD may not have garnered so many votes.

 

[brad465]

In all honesty I am not impressed by some of the incoming results in the EU elections. The extremist, ultra-right AfD for example getting 16% in Germany, more than the Social Democrats. There have been allegations that they may want to deport all non-Germans, visa, citizenship or not (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68029232)

Germany is still divided in so many ways by its former separation into East and West states. Despite huge sums of money being spent to try and bring the East level with the West, it's still distinctly poorer and has contrastingly higher support for both the extreme left and right parties, as laid out in the video below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1arkpyf/this_video_has_been_going_viral_on_xtwitter_about/

Some sign of the young abandoning the Greens for the far-right. I thought the young were supposed to trend more leftwards and were especially concerned about concerns such as climate change?

Read the Horseshoe theory for an explanation on this.

The main explanation for the far-right vote seems to be that "people are fed up of mainstream parties" (of the centre-right or centre-left) because they do nothing for them. I'd like an explanation of what these people think the far-right can do for them, though. The far-right are not generally known for kindness and helping people out who are struggling; socialists are the group most likely to do that. The far-right will do nothing except increase division in society.

Have also heard "security" as an explanation; again perhaps such voters might like to observe that many of these far-right parties appear to be more Russia-sympathetic than the traditional parties of the centre-right or centre-left. Orban, Salvini amongst others - I'm looking at you. By voting in the far-right, I suspect countries are more at risk of malign Russian influence, not less.

As we've found out in the UK and to an extent in the US (though the latter is not out of the woods yet), you give so-called populists a chance and they will eventually fail, due to incompetence and/or benefitting from keeping/strengthening the areas that many have grievances over to the point of voting for them. We just have to hope that don't decide to invade someone when it starts going pear-shaped for them. It's also worth noting that Brexit actually caused many right-wing populist parties on the continent to think twice about past equivalent policies and now no longer plan to even have a referendum on the issue, let alone outright pursue it.

Macron thinks he's going to pull a Boris and increase his majority to embarrass his political rivals , hopefully he doesn't end up pulling a Theresa May instead. Does seem odd if your are worried by a surge in a right wing party to call an election right after a big win. We didn't have snap elections every time Farage done well in an EU election

I think a better parallel is the last Spanish elections last year: the main governing left/centre-left PSOE party performed poorly in certain regional elections vs centre-right/right wing parties, so the PM called a snap election to try and catch the other parties off guard. You could say it paid off, as the two main parties on the right could not gain enough seats to form a coalition, allowing the PSOE to remain in power, albeit at a price that will certainly bite them later on, that being beholden to Catalan nationalists.

 

[JamesT]

Or it could be telling it like it is rather than trying to make excuses for them. Certainly AfD seems, to me, to be absolutely abhorrent.

And it should be said that the BBC has described Le Pen as far-right:

I’m far from trying to make excuses for them, I’m saying that describing a large swathe of parties all as far-right, or indeed trying to fit parties into a single right-left narrative loses all the nuance and doesn’t really add to the debate. Being liberal or conservative on social issues or the economy are at least two axis to differentiate.
You mention being pro-Russia as a feature of the far right, but the Italian PM who is normally described as far right is a big supporter of Ukraine. Whereas the German government who most people would describe as centre-left who have been the drag on supporting Ukraine.
The BBC recently had to apologise for describing Reform as far right, forgive me if I don’t take their pronouncements on parties as gospel.

 

[brad465]

If anyone opposed to right wing parties is looking for good news from these results, it will come from Hungary: Orban's Fidesz party, while still holding the most seats from Hungary's allocation (11, down 2), has had its worst vote share since 2010, while the main opposition challenger party, Tisza, only formed earlier this year and got 7 seats as second-highest. Orban has been plagued by scandals and inflation recently and if the trend continues could spell trouble for the next national election in 2026.

 

[scarby]

If anyone opposed to right wing parties is looking for good news from these results, it will come from Hungary: Orban's Fidesz party, while still holding the most seats from Hungary's allocation (11, down 2), has had its worst vote share since 2010, while the main opposition challenger party, Tisza, only formed earlier this year and got 7 seats as second-highest. Orban has been plagued by scandals and inflation recently and if the trend continues could spell trouble for the next national election in 2026.

The left/greens made gains in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Note that here in Sweden, where we have just 21 European seats, the actual result changed very little, with just a couple of seats changing hands.

 

[nw1]

If anyone opposed to right wing parties is looking for good news from these results, it will come from Hungary: Orban's Fidesz party, while still holding the most seats from Hungary's allocation (11, down 2), has had its worst vote share since 2010, while the main opposition challenger party, Tisza, only formed earlier this year and got 7 seats as second-highest. Orban has been plagued by scandals and inflation recently and if the trend continues could spell trouble for the next national election in 2026.

Perhaps this is some evidence for the theory that right-wing populism "has its time" of say 5-10 years, as suggested up-thread. Perhaps Hungary's starting to have had its fill of it, in the same way that the UK is possibly starting to be fed up of it too. France is perhaps "behind the curve", so to speak, being perhaps at a similar point in the curve as the UK was in 2016.

The left/greens made gains in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Note that here in Sweden, where we have just 21 European seats, the actual result changed very little, with just a couple of seats changing hands.

Yes, I did notice a few encouraging results, outside the big hitters of France and Germany plus Austria.

I noted Denmark, also Spain doesn't seem to have done so badly with the centre-right and centre-left parties far in the lead and the hard-right Vox party some way behind.

That said, more evidence for the young going far-right on the BBC (from Poland):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-69102843?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6666ab334736400cb3a87539%26Tusk%27s%20centrists%20win%20narrowly%20in%20Poland%262024-06-10T07%3A28%3A52.476Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:3a340a47-697c-4a86-86e4-99d43e287dab&pinned_post_asset_id=6666ab334736400cb3a87539&pinned_post_type=share

The far-right Confederation party came third with 12.08%, up from 4.55% in 2019. According to an exit poll, Confederation was the most popular party among 18–29-year-olds.

This is not the well-known Law and Justice party, but a party to the right of them!
Deeply concerning if the youth are going hard-right or even far-right: they are supposed to be our future.

The narrative for most of the past 20 years across the western world is that the youth have been trending leftwards and "green-wards" which has given those of us a bit older some hope that things might get better in the future. That is probably still the case in some countries but evidently not everywhere.

 

[renegademaster]

think a better parallel is the last Spanish elections last year: the main governing left/centre-left PSOE party performed poorly in certain regional elections vs centre-right/right wing parties, so the PM called a snap election to try and catch the other parties off

The gamble has worked quite a few times yes doesn't make it a good idea.

 

[HSTEd]

When you gamble, you eventually lose.

I do think that the broader post 1991 political consensus in Europe is beginning to fracture under its apparent inability to deal with current economic issues.
You can only fail so many times before voters begin to lose their faith and become willing to try something else.

 

[scarby]

The way some sections of the media go on about it, anyone would think it was on a par with the Reichstag fire.

Give me a break.

 

[nw1]

This is certainly one of the most cringe-worthy reports I've seen today:

‘Conservative values will impact EU policymaking like never before,’ says rightwing group

European Conservatives and Reformists party includes members such as Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law and Justice

www.theguardian.com

A street mural depicting Giorgia Meloni as the Madonna has appeared in the centre of Milan in the wake of her victory in the European election.

Called “Santa Giorgia”, the mural by artist aleXsandro Palombo features the Italian prime minister with a halo of the European flag and cradling a breastfeeding baby.

Santa Giorgia !??!??

Order of the Brown Nose for Mr Palombo, then.

 

[BrianW]

Macron thinks he's going to pull a Boris and increase his majority to embarras his political rivals , hopefully he doesn't end up pulling a Theresa May instead. Does seem odd if your are worried by a surge in a right wing party to call an election right after a big win. We didn't have snap elections every time Farage done well in an EU election

Looks like, despite the media suggesting Rishi Sunak left France too soon on D-Day, he did have long enough to share with M. Macron how well his 'cunning plan' was going- 'pour encourager les autres'.

 

[E27007]

Macron thinks he's going to pull a Boris and increase his majority to embarras his political rivals , hopefully he doesn't end up pulling a Theresa May instead. Does seem odd if your are worried by a surge in a right wing party to call an election right after a big win. We didn't have snap elections every time Farage done well in an EU election

I do not fully understand the French system, but I believe the Presidential election (the Office Macron holds) will be in 2027, the snap election is a legislative election, the make-up of the French Parliament.
Macron may be gambling upon a rival taking up the reins and making a mess of it all before 2027

 

[JamesT]

I do not fully understand the French system, but I believe the Presidential election (the Office Macron holds) will be in 2027, the snap election is a legislative election, the make-up of the French Parliament.
Macron may be gambling upon a rival taking up the reins and making a mess of it all before 2027

It is a different system, but it does seem a bit weird that he has the power to call elections for the parliament when he’s not part of it.

 

[gswindale]

It is a different system, but it does seem a bit weird that he has the power to call elections for the parliament when he’s not part of it.

Didn't Rishi have to ask Charles permission to dissolve parliament to have an election?

It may just be a formality normally, but I do seem to recall the monarch has the right to ask whoever they choose to form a government, so in the case of a hung parliament it could well the leader of the 2nd largest party if it looks like they're forming a deal with other smaller parties for a coalition.

I believe that, whilst they do not by convention, the current monarch can request the incumbent prime minister quit or hold an election if they deem it necessary.

 

[JamesT]

Didn't Rishi have to ask Charles permission to dissolve parliament to have an election?

It may just be a formality normally, but I do seem to recall the monarch has the right to ask whoever they choose to form a government, so in the case of a hung parliament it could well the leader of the 2nd largest party if it looks like they're forming a deal with other smaller parties for a coalition.

I believe that, whilst they do not by convention, the current monarch can request the incumbent prime minister quit or hold an election if they deem it necessary.

Formally he does, though as Parliament can remove that requirement through legislation (as they did with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act), it’s clear where the actual power lies.
The last monarch to appoint a PM of their own choosing was William IV almost 200 years ago.
In the case of a hung parliament, the outgoing PM will advise who they think appears to be able to build a coalition that can get a majority in the house. In 2010 Gordon Brown told the Queen to send for David Cameron.
But all of this involves the members of parliament deciding their own fate. Members of the French government don’t sit in their parliament, they have substitutes who take up their seats instead.

 

[MP33]

In February 1974, the Conservatives did not want Harold Wilson as PM and threatened a confidence vote on the Queens speech and another General Election. Queen Elizabeth suggested that she sent for Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary, as a compromise candidate.

 

[Giugiaro]

The main explanation for the far-right vote seems to be that "people are fed up of mainstream parties" (of the centre-right or centre-left) because they do nothing for them. I'd like an explanation of what these people think the far-right can do for them, though. The far-right are not generally known for kindness and helping people out who are struggling; socialists are the group most likely to do that. The far-right will do nothing except increase division in society.

Pretty much every EU country fell for the same mistake of treating EU elections as a domestic General Election, or the mother of all General Election polls.
In Portugal the campaigning was completely disgraceful, focusing only on domestic matters, and the 37% turnout shows how little the electorate cared about the EU elections when we had General Elections just 2 months ago.
The way the media treated these elections also didn't help in the slightest.

- Some parties (like the conservative nationalistic Chega) only featured their party leader during the campaign, completely ignoring their party frontrunner for the EU parliament.
- Others (like the liberal left Livre) left their frontrunners to run their campaign without any support, going largely ignored by the media.
- Then there are the "Green" parties (like the liberal center PAN), who were more worried about campaigning by walking their pets than actually addressing real pressing issues that affect society as a whole... or are in a coalition with the Communist Party (like the actual "Green" party).

The results were pretty much the same as in the General Election. The only remarks worth pointing out are:

1. The shift between the results of the Socialist Party and the Center-Right Coalition (Democratic Alliance), with the Socialists having just barely more votes than the DA.
   The explanation is probably because the DA decided to choose a 28-year-old for their frontrunner and the aging electorate punished them by simply abstaining from voting.
2. The fact that the PAN had even fewer votes than a more obscure ultra-conservative and ultra-nationalistic ADN, shows just how weak their recent campaigning has been.
   PAN has also suffered from a lot of infighting, as pro-animal welfare radicals fight hard against other party members specialized in other societal issues, particularly the green transition, sustainable mobility, labor and social wellbeing, and economic sustainability, who aren't as invested in animal welfare but are crucial for building a cohesive governmental plan.

Does this have anything to do with Europe? Maybe???
Did this do any favors for Europe? Absolutely not.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Von der Leyen is set to be re-elected as EU President subject to approval at the EU summit this Thursday.

The three names will now be presented to EU leaders for their approval at a summit Thursday. The six EU leaders negotiating the bloc’s top jobs have agreed that Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, Portugal’s António Costa, and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas should get the most senior positions at the European Commission, European Council and foreign policy service, according to five EU officials.

The six negotiators are Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (for the European People’s Party), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (for the socialists), and French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (for the liberals).

The next step will be a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday at which the three names will be presented to the heads of state and government for their approval. One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiation, said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won’t like that she (again) wasn’t involved in the negotiation as her political group in the European Parliament is now the third-largest after June’s European election.

Meloni was not part of Tuesday’s discussion as a condition set out by the liberals and center-left groups, who had vowed not to back von der Leyen if she struck deals with the Italian leader.

Still, Italy is likely to get a very senior portfolio in the next European Commission.

The same official said: “Now that they agree, this [should sail] through the European Council easily.”

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote on social media after the news broke Tuesday that the deal the EPP “made with the leftists and the liberals runs against everything that the EU was based on. Instead of inclusion, it sows the seeds of division. EU top officials should represent every member state, not just leftists and liberals!”

Von der Leyen, Costa, Kallas approved for EU top jobs by negotiators

The three names will now be presented to EU leaders for their approval at a summit Thursday.

www.politico.eu

Well the first round of the elections is depressing for those hoping to not see a National Front Government. But there is hope in the second round that the left could possibly form a coalition if the National Front is unable to get a majority.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-vote-election-that-could-put-far-right-government-2024-06-30/

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party scored historic gains to win the first round of France's parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on days of horsetrading before next week's run-off.
The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed, in a huge setback for President Emmanuel Macron who had called the snap election after his ticket was trounced by the RN in European Parliament elections earlier this month.The RN's share of the vote was comfortably ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5%-23%. The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed.
The exit polls were in line with opinion surveys ahead of the election, and were met with jubilation by Le Pen's supporters. However, they provided little clarity on whether the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN will be able to form a government to "cohabit" with the pro-EU Macron after next Sunday's run-offA longtime pariah for many in France, the RN is now closer to power than it has ever been. Le Pen has sought to clean up the image of a party known for racism and antisemitism, a tactic that has worked amid voter anger at Macron, the high cost of living and growing concerns over immigration.
At Le Pen's Henin-Beaumont constituency in northern France, supporters waved French flags and sung the Marseillaise.."The French have shown their willingness to turn the page on a contemptuous and corrosive power," Le Pen told the cheering crowd.
The RN's chances of winning power next week will depend on the political dealmaking made by its rivals over the coming days. In the past, centre-right and centre-left parties have teamed up to keep the RN from power, but that dynamic, known as the "republican front," is less certain than ever.If no candidate reaches 50% in the first round, the top two contenders automatically qualify for the second round, as well as all those with 12.5% of registered voters. In the run-off, whoever wins the most votes take the constituency.
High turnout on Sunday suggests France is heading for a record number of three-way run-offs. These generally benefit the RN much more than two-way contests, experts say.
The horsetrading began almost immediately on Sunday night.
Macron called on voters to rally behind candidates who are "clearly republican and democratic", which, based on his recent declarations, would exclude candidates from the RN and from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.
Political leaders from the centre-left and far-left all called on their third-placed candidates to drop out.
"Our guideline is simple and clear: not a single more vote for the National Rally," France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said.However, the centre-right Republicans party, which split ahead of the vote with a small number of its lawmakers joining the RN, gave no guidance.
POSSIBLE PRIME MINISTER
Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old RN party president, said he was ready to be prime minister - if his party wins an absolute majority. He has ruled out trying to form a minority government and neither Macron nor the NFP leftist group will form an alliance with him.
"I will be a "cohabitation" Prime Minister, respectful of the constitution and of the office of President of the Republic, but uncompromising about the policies we will implement," he said.
The mood was gloomy at the Republique square in Paris, where a few thousand anti-RN protesters gathered at a rally of the leftist alliance on Sunday night.
Najiya Khaldi, a 33-year-old teacher, said she felt "disgust, sadness and fear" at the RN's strong results.
"I am not used to demonstrating," she said. "I think I came to reassure myself, to not feel alone."
Market reaction to Sunday's result was muted, with the euro gaining around 0.23% in early Asia-Pacific trading. Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at London's City Index, described relief that the result yielded "no surprises."
"Le Pen had a slightly smaller margin than some of the polls had pointed to, which may have helped the euro a little bit higher on the open," she said. "Attention now is on July 7 to see whether the second round supports an absolute majority or not. So it does feel like we're a little bit in limbo."
COMPLEX CALCULUS
The RN was seen winning the most seats in the National Assembly, but only one of the pollsters - Elabe - had the party winning an absolute majority of 289 seats in the run-off.
Experts say seat projections after first-round votes can be highly inaccurate, and especially so in this election.
No nationwide official results were available on Sunday evening, but they were expected in the coming hours. Exit polls in France have tended to be highly accurate.
Voter participation was high compared with previous parliamentary elections, illustrating the political fervour Macron aroused with his stunning and politically risky decision to call a parliamentary vote.
At 1500 GMT, turnout was nearly 60%, compared with 39.42% two years ago - the highest comparable turnout figures since the 1986 legislative vote, Ipsos France's research director Mathieu Gallard said. It was unclear when the official turnout figure would be updated.

The Exit Poll in France is a huge surprise with it predicting that the Popular Front will win the most seats in the second round with Le Pen's National Rally coming in third and Macron's Ensemble coming in second.

An exit poll suggests Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally have fallen short in the French parliamentary election, in what our Europe correspondent Adam Parsons describes as an "absolute shock". They had been in the lead after the first round of voting earlier this month. Far-right National Rally in third place after France snap election - with left-wing New Popular Front leading, exit poll shows
France is on course for a hung parliament, according to exit polls, which put the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) coalition in first place.

Jean-Luc Melenchon's party is expected to take between 172-205 seats, more than any other party but still far fewer than the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance Ensemble has finished second, expecting to take 150-175 seats.

And in a huge shock, France's far-right National Rally (RN) are expected to finish third with between 115-150 seats.

France elections latest: France faces 'three major risks' - as Macron asks PM to reconsider

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally fell short in the French parliamentary election while the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the dominant force - but France is likely to have a hung parliament. Listen to a podcast below about the election aftermath while you scroll.

news.sky.com

Sounds like a Left wing and Centrist coalition to keep the National Rally out. Many across Europe will be breathing a sigh of relief.

ELECTIONS: Final result:

Ensemble: 168
RN: 143
NFP: 182 (short of a majority by 107)
LR: 45
Droite: 15
Gauche: 13
Centre: 6
Regionalistes: 4
Divers: 1

x.com

x.com

Looks like France will have a coalition between the NFP and Ensemble.

As a result, the French PM will resign today:

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday he will hand his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning, adding he will carry out his functions as long as required.
Attal made the comments after France's left-wing New Popular Front coalition won the most seats in the second voting round of parliamentary elections, leading pollsters said on Sunday, putting them on track for an unexpected win over the far right National Rally (RN) party but short of an absolute majority in parliament.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-pm-attal-i-will-hand-my-resignation-monday-morning-2024-07-07/

 

[nw1]

Great result in France and good to see the opponents of the far-right coming together to keep them out.

 

[Cowley]

Great result in France and good to see the opponents of the far-right coming together to keep them out.

Looks like it’s going to be a bit messy for a while though unfortunately. I’m not counting my chickens yet but it was good to see the level of turnout for such an important election.

 

[Irascible]

Fairly well tuned in french friend ( who described Le Pen as fascist, and confirmed the RN is quite well known as fascist in France - going back to the start of the thread ) said there was a little bit of worry still that the centrists might ally with the Republicans - who're very similar to the Tory party it seems, splits and recriminations and all - to lock out the left-wing coalition.

I am told there are people voting for RN because they're fed up with all the others & think they might as well try the RN ( this sound familiar? ) and also quite a few are just ignorant of politics & voting for whoever's got the best soundbites ( is this also sounding familiar? ). Is there a school for far-right populists out there or are people just studying Goebbels?

 

[dangie]

Looks like it’s going to be a bit messy for a while though unfortunately.….

Probably time for another riot or two. The French do like a good riot.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Macron has appointed a former Brexit negotiator as the French PM:

Emmanuel Macron has appointed the EU’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, as prime minister of France, as he seeks to put an end to two months of political paralysis after a snap election.

The French president said he had tasked Barnier with forming “a unifying government in the service of the country”.

Michel Barnier named as new prime minister of France

Macron tasks former EU Brexit negotiator with forming a unifying government after months of political paralysis

www.theguardian.com

Barnier's party came fourth in the recent legislative elections.

 

[Yew]

It does increasingly seem that Macron has little regard for Democracy.