Emmanuel Macron going through larger wipeout than Rishi Sunak is forecast
President Emmanuel Macron risks plunging France into chaos as his decision to call a snap election threatens to boost his hard-Right opponents, predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy warned Sunday.
Opinion polls suggest Mr Macron’s centrist alliance faces an even greater rejection than Rishi Sunak is forecast to endure in next month’s general election, with barely 20 per cent of French voters voicing their support.
It comes as French financial markets have taken a hammering in the week since his unexpected decision to dissolve the National Assembly in the wake of elections to the European Parliament, which saw his group trounced by the hard-Right National Rally.
Opinion polls suggest Mr Macron’s centrist alliance faces an even greater rejection than Rishi Sunak is forecast to endure in next month’s general election. Macron at a summit on peace in Ukraine in Switzerland
French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) party leader Marine Le Pen (left) and France’s President
Now Mr Sarkozy, who was conservative president from 2007 to 2012 and is on friendly terms with Mr Macron, has warned his gamble could backfire spectacularly.
‘Giving the floor to the French people to justify the dissolution is a curious argument since this is precisely what more than 25million French people have just done at the polls’, he said yesterday.
‘The risk is great they confirm their anger rather than reverse it.’ Mr Macron has three years to go in his term as president.
But a victory for the National Rally (RN) in the elections – to be held in two rounds on June 30 and July 7 – could put its 28-year-old party leader Jordan Bardella on track to become the next prime minister, threatening a damaging clash with the moderate, pro-business president.
Nicolas, who was conservative president from 2007 to 2012 and is on friendly terms with Mr Macron, has warned his gamble could backfire spectacularly. Pictured, Sarkozy attends an official state dinner as part of the US President’s state visit to France on June 8
Demonstrators stand on The Triumph of the Republic statue on Place de la Nation in Paris during a demonstration against the French far-right National Rally
People raise their fist as they attend a demonstration against the French far-right ahead of early legislative elections in Paris
Thousands marched in Paris and cities across France on Saturday to protest against the hard-Right group, which attracted more than 30 per cent of votes in the ballot for the Strasbourg parliament, almost twice as many votes as Mr Macron’s party Renaissance.
A poll at the weekend forecast RN would lead in the first round with 33 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties, with 25 per cent, and Mr Macron’s centrist camp on 20 per cent.
Other polls last week placed his group even lower with support from just 18 per cent of voters.
Mr Macron has denied accusations he had taken a reckless gamble with the country’s political future, saying it was ‘a gesture of great confidence in the French people’.
However his finance minister Bruno Le Maire admitted the country could face ‘a regime crisis’ if opinion polls prove accurate.
