PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the Lower House of France’s Parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose lawmakers, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European elections on Sunday.
The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s (EU) parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes.
Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31-32 per cent of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15 per cent.
Macron himself wasn’t a candidate in the EU elections and his term as president still runs for three more years.
He said the decision was “serious” but showed his “confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say”.
“In the next few days, I’ll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation. I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said.
In latest legislative elections in 2022, Macron’s centrist party won the most seats but lost its majority at the National Assembly, forcing lawmakers into political maneuvering to pass bills.
With Sunday’s decision, he is taking a big risk with a move that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen to eventually take power.
A scenario in which an opposition party would eventually win a Parliament majority could lead to a fraught power-sharing situation called “cohabitation”, with Macron to name a prime minister with different views.
Le Pen, who heads the National Rally group at the National Assembly, “welcomed” Macron’s move.
‘We’re ready for it,” said Le Pen, who was the runner-up to Macron in the last two presidential elections. “We’re ready to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these future legislative elections. We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority.”
