France: last day of the electoral campaign for the first round of the legislative elections

Last day of the electoral campaign in France, in view of the first round of the legislative elections scheduled for this Sunday. The Rassemblement National remains the big favorite according to the polls, even if uncertainty remains regarding the achievement of an absolute majority for the formation led by Marine Le Pen. If the far-right party wins the 289 seats, it will impose on the president Emmanuel Macron a cohabitation of government by choosing Jordan Bardella as prime minister. But if none of the three competing blocs were to achieve their objective, a critical scenario would open up for the head of state, who would find himself with a fragmented National Assembly, with the strong risk of an ungovernable country.

The latest survey conducted by the Elabe institute for the television station “BfmTv” gives hope to the lepenists, at 36 percent (between 260 and 296 seats). The left united in the New Popular Front follows at 27.5 percent, while the Macronians led by Prime Minister Attal are behind at 20 percent. To be elected deputy in the first round, it is necessary to obtain an absolute majority of the votes cast by at least a quarter of registered voters. Otherwise, all those who exceed the threshold of 12.5 percent will go to the runoff. According to “BfmTv”, there will be many three-way challenges in these elections, which could beat the record of 73 reached in the 1997 legislative elections. It seems that voter turnout could also increase, with polls predicting between 64 and 66 percent, compared to 47.5 percent recorded in 2022. Yesterday, 2 million proxy votes were reached, which allow voters to delegate a trusted person to vote in their place. However, it is difficult to establish who will benefit from this mass return to the polls. No poll is taking a stance on the matter because some of the data needed to establish projections is missing.

The authorities they fear riots on election nights, which could be caused by far-left and far-right militants. For this reason, the Ministry of the Interior has announced a strengthening of security measures near polling stations. The prefect of Paris, Laurent Nunez, announced that the deployment of 45,000 police and gendarmerie agents, together with 10,000 soldiers, will be requested for the entire Ile-de-France region. On Sunday, voting will begin at 8:00 am and the polls will close at 6:00 pm. In some large cities, polling stations will be able to remain open until 7 or 8 pm, as has been planned for Paris. The first screenings will be announced at 8 p.m.

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