“Democracy has spoken”: this is how he announced the victory of his Rassemblement National Marine Le Penthe first political leader to come forward after the results of the polls.
The climate in France is very heated and these national elections have been very heartfelt: 66% of the electorate came to vote. And they did so in a way that was exactly the same as what happened just three weeks ago, when all of Europe found itself choosing the new European Parliament. In that case, in fact, the right-wing Rassemblement National had already won the elections, forcing the liberal French president Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the Chambers early and call new elections.
Perhaps this is precisely the reason why, in the last meetings of the European Council, Macron was in a hurry to close the negotiations on the name of the new President of the European Commission. With these elections, and with the very probable farewell of Macron to the Elysée, things would change and the arrival of the right in the French government would change the cards on the table also in Europe, causing the collapse of that Franco-German alliance of liberal and socialist stamp that has held control of the community summits for about forty years.
This is the reason why the whole world has followed the vote in France with apprehension. But compared to three weeks ago, nothing has changed. According to data reported tonight by Le Monde, one in three French people voted for the right: Rassemblement National, allied with the Eric Ciotti Republicans, obtained 33.1% of the votes, the New Popular Front stopped at 28%, while the Ensemble, the presidential coalition, at 20%. But the game is still open for the second round: Macron is taking cover to try to broaden the left-wing coalition, while Bardella calls the people for the final step forward: “You responded massively to the first round of the legislative elections with a historic turnout”, Bardella wrote on social media addressing his voters, inviting them next Sunday to “make the choice of a historic break”. Bardella then recalled the principles of RN: “Our choice is simple: to defend the order, freedoms and values of France against an unprecedented regression”.
As anticipated, however, the French vote will have important repercussions on Europe. So much so that even the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni she spoke out on the subject, pointing out to everyone how throughout Europe, as has already happened in Italy, we are going beyond the barriers of the left: “For the first time – she commented – Le Pen’s party has had allies since the first round and for the first time it seems to me that even the Républicain are oriented towards not participating in the so-called republican front. I congratulate – she added – the Rassemblement National and its allies for the clear victory in the first round”. And also in France, as in Italy, we see the attempt to overshadow the will of the citizens expressed through the vote: “The constant attempt to demonize and corner the people who do not vote for the left is a trick that serves to escape from the debate on the merits of the different political proposals, but – she concluded – fewer and fewer people fall for it”.
