Leftist Coalition Set For Shock Victory In French Election

[J.J.Gibbs]

Leftist Coalition Set For Shock Victory In French Election; Le Pen Limps To 3rd Behind Macron!

BY TYLER DURDEN

SUNDAY, JUL 07, 2024 - 02:18 PM


Well, no one saw that coming...


The last-minute-arranged broad left-wing coalition known as The New Popular Front (NFP), was leading a tight French legislative election Sunday, ahead of both President Emmanuel Macron's centrists and Le Pen's rightists, projections showed.



Provisional estimates from four pollsters suggest the following seat projections:



Left Alliance Set for 170-215 Seats



Macron’s Group Set for 150-182 Seats



Le Pen’s Group Set for 110-158 Seats



It looks like the anti-National Rally front worked better than anyone expected, catching the polling companies by surprise.



The projected results suggest that the co-ordinated anti-RN strategy, under which the left and center tactically withdrew their candidates from run-offs, had paid off.


If confirmed in final voting tallies, the projections suggest that none of the three main blocs will be able easily to command a governing majority, potentially leaving France in a period of political gridlock.



There are some big barriers to that given that Macron himself has called France Unbowed - a big part of the left’s New Popular Front - an extremist party and some of his supports have called against voting for its candidates.



AP reports that the French leftist leader,Jean-Luc Melenchon says elections are an "immense relief for a majority of people," demands prime minister resign.



Melenchon says the New Popular Front government would apply its program and nothing but the program as he refuses any negotiation with Macron’s party or any combination. As Bloomberg reports, that theoretically would mean some disruptive changes of economic policy, and by decree according to Melenchon:



Undoing the pension reform;



raising the minimum wage;



a 90% top marginal tax rate;



and freezing prices of some consumer staples.



Not a pretty picture for French bonds either way.

Andrea Tueni, head of sales trading at Saxo Banque France:



“This is a big surprise, it’s a real blow for the RN. That being said, it’s not necessarily good for markets: The Nouveau Front Populaire taking the lead could generate concerns due to their program which was the most poorly perceived by the markets.”



French National Rally Leader Jordan Bardella warns this vote "has thrown France into the arms of the far-Left."

As @runews posted on X:



"Macron now faces a total mess. He aimed to stop 'Hitler' party and mobilized Lenin (Mélenchon), but now he has both Lenin and Hitler, leaving him stuck in the middle."



Presumably all the globalist fear mongering over the so-called 'Hitler-ite' Le Pen pushed the French people back into the immigrant-loving arms of the Left? Or something else went down?



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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Leftist Radicals Riot in France Despite Victory for Far-Left in Snap Elections
KURT ZINDULKA
7 Jul 2024

Despite the far-left New Popular Front winning the second round of elections, riots broke out in France after leftist radicals had gathered in anticipation of a potential victory of Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally.



Ahead of the second round of voting on Saturday, the government mobilised 30,000 police officers, including 5,000 in Paris, in expectation of riots from the far-left if the populist right repeated its success in the first round of the snap elections called by French President Macron.

Black bloc Antifa-style radicals were filmed setting fire to street furniture and bicycles, as well as shooting fireworks and other projectiles at police as they ran ruff shot through the French capital. Demonstrators were seen waving Palestinian and Antifa flags.



Protests and riots have also broken out in Rennes, Lyon, Marseilles and other cities across France, Le Figaro reports.

While the New Popular Front alliance between socialists, radical environmentalists, and outright communists won the most seats, currently being projected to have secured between 187 and 198 seats in the National Assembly, the far left still showed their violent edge, clashing with police in Paris and other cities on Sunday evening.

Although Macron had warned that voting for either the populist right or the far-left socialist-communist alliance would lead to “civil war” in France, in a desperate bid to prevent the National Rally from taking over the legislature, he partnered with the leftist New Popular Front in an election alliance for the second round.



An "Antifascist action flag" is seen during an election night rally following the first results of the second round of France's legislative election at Place de la Republique in Paris on July 7, 2024. A loose alliance of French left-wing parties thrown together for snap elections was on course to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to shock projected results. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP) 



Over the coming days, there will be wrangling to form a governing coalition, with Macron’s deputy, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announcing his resignation on Sunday evening. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has demanded that Macron either resign or appoint a member of his New Popular Front as the next prime minister.

Marine Le Pen, her deputy Jordan Bardella, and the disputed leader of the centre-right Les Républicains Éric Ciotti have denounced Macron’s election pact with the far-left as an “alliance of dishonour”.



Contrary to the scare tactics deployed by Macron, the French political establishment, and the legacy media concerning the rise of the so-called “far-right”, it has been Macron’s new leftist partners such as Mélenchon who have been broadly supportive of political violence and riots over the past year in France.

Commenting before the election about the accusations against her party somehow being a threat to democracy, Le Pen said: “The extreme left has been violent for years… and this completely unpunished. Macron said: ‘Either me or the chaos’. He is the chaos! We, on the other hand, embody calm and order. The RN has never organized a demonstration against election results, has never prevented an opponent’s rally, and has never turned the National Assembly into a zone to be defended.”

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

French Elections: Populist Le Pen Party Won Most Votes But Awarded Third Most Seats
KURT ZINDULKA
7 Jul 2024

The French election results showed that the “alliance of dishonour” between President Emmanuel Macron and the far left effectively blocked the populist National Rally from gaining a majority despite the Le Pen party having won the most votes.



According to the French Interior Ministry, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) won the most votes of any party during Sunday’s second round of the snap legislative elections at over 8.7 million, good for 32.05 per cent of the vote.



When combined with their electoral alliance partners from disputed Les Républicains president Eric Ciotti, who earned nearly 1.4 million, good for 5 per cent of the vote, that would take the right wing to over 10 million and 37.05 per cent of the vote.



In comparison, the far-left New Popular Front alliance of communists, socialists, and environmentalists led by radical leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon only received around seven million votes or around 25.7 per cent and Emmanuel Macron’s neo-liberal centrist coalition received 6.3 million votes or 23.15 per cent of the vote.



However, despite receiving 1.7 million fewer votes than RN, the New Popular Front was awarded the most seats of any party, currently projected by Le Monde at 182. Macron’s coalition won an estimated 168 seats, and despite coming in first in terms of vote share, the RN and its partners were awarded the third most seats at a projected 143.



The disparity between votes and seats in the National Assembly came as a result of the backroom deal struck between President Macron and the New Popular Front, in which each side agreed to drop out in favour of the candidate with the best chance of beating out the populist party in over 200 legislative districts.



Just days before forging the pact to stymie Le Pen, Macron had warned that voting for either the National Rally or the New Popular Front leftists would lead to “civil war”, leading many to question why he was willing to side with the leftist bloc after the first round of voting saw RN surge.

The 28-year-old leader of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, criticised the “alliance of dishonour” between Macron and the New Popular Front, which he said would “throw France into the arms of the far left of Jean-Luc Mélenchon”.



Putting a positive spin on the outcome, former RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said: “Two years ago we had just seven MPs. Tonight RN is the first party in France in terms of MP numbers.”



This is true, while Macron’s coalition and the New Popular Front boast more seats in total, they are both groupings of various smaller parties, while RN is the only single party to have over 100 seats in the National Assembly.



While a disappointing result for the populist party, it may set the RN up for an easier path to win the French presidency in 2027. With a looming debt crisis, the National Rally being out of power will mean that it will not have to take any of the blame for the potential economic calamity on the horizon.



The party will also likely benefit from the fact that Emmanuel Macron — who has been effective at rallying centrists to his banner — will be barred from running for the presidency again because of term limits. It is also unclear how effective Macron will be in leading the country for the remainder of his term now that he will be tethered politically to literal communists.

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