In the wake of electoral setbacks, Macron dissolves National Assembly and calls legislative elections in France

French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the National Assembly, the French Parliament and announced legislative elections after receiving information about voting for the European Chamber elections in France. According to surveys, the far-right in the country of France has won the elections with 31.5 percent of the votes.

Macron has argued that the “main lesson” of these European elections is that “the parties that defend Europe, including the presidential majority”, have not recorded “good results”.

In second place was the French president’s party Renacimiento, which had managed to maintain its hold with 15% in the first forecasts. For the liberals, it can be considered a success not to be surpassed by the joint list of the Socialist Party and the Public Square, headed by Raphaël Glucksmann, who obtained 14%. While the left-wing list Francia Insumida is in fourth place with 8.7% of the votes. The environmentalists, who came in third in the 2019 elections, have fallen to seventh place (5.2%), overtaken by the Republicans (7.7%), the equivalent of the PP in France, and the ultra Reconquista Split (5.5%).

The French president said that in the face of record results for the far right he could not “resign myself to the rise of nationalists and democrats, nor act as if nothing happened”. “After carrying out the consultations provided for in Article 12 of our Constitution, I have decided to return to you the choice of our future parliamentarians through a vote”, he stressed. He added that the legislative elections would be held on June 30 for the first round and on July 7 for the second round.

Macron stressed, “The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a threat not only to our country, but also to our place in Europe and France’s place in Europe and the world.” The French president has indicated that he “trusts our democracy, that the sovereign people speak their mind.” “I have heard your message, your concerns and I will not leave them unanswered.”

Le Pen: “We are ready to use force”

Precisely, Marine Le Pen, a prospective candidate for the presidency of France from the extreme right, congratulated Macron’s decision to dissolve the French parliament, “which is part of the logic of the institutions of the Fifth Republic.” “By giving the National Rally list more than 32%, the French people have given us the highest score of any party in 40 years,” Marine Le Pen declared.

“The vote of the French is final: the president, responding to the call of Jordan Bardella (National Rally candidate), has just announced that the French people will return to the elections in a few weeks,” Le Pen highlighted.

“After the 2022 legislative elections, which designated the National Rally as the main parliamentary opposition, these European elections confirm our movement as the main force for change in France,” Le Pen said. “We are ready to exercise power,” the far-right leader said after asking the French to vote for us in the next legislative elections.

Criticism of Macron from the left

Raphaël Glucksmann, Plaza Pública and Socialist Party candidate in the European elections, pointed out that “This disinformation committed by Jordan Bardella will remain a stain on Emmanuel Macron’s tenure for another five years.”

“This is a dangerous game that is being played with democracy and the European institutions. “I am shocked by this kind of behaviour” from Macron, the Social Democratic candidate highlighted. Glucksmann said he “reached out to all left-wing voters” for new elections.

The leader of Defiant France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, pointed out that “after the results were announced, and although they are incomplete, France has entered a new political moment, the worst moment.” Mélenchon regretted that Macron did not put his mandate at stake “instead of dissolving the National Assembly”, i.e. simply sending home those who had far more legitimacy than him.

“But you have to admit that his dissolution was right. Why was he right? Because he no longer has the legitimacy to continue his policy. Since there are elections, I am repeating loudly that, when we rebel, we are not afraid of the people. On the contrary, we trust them,” Mélenchon said.

Dissolution of the National Assembly

Article 12 of the French Constitution legitimizes the President of France to dissolve the National Assembly, although he must do so after consulting the Prime Minister and the presidents of the two assemblies, the National and the Senate. After this, elections will be held within a period that can vary between twenty and forty days.

Macron’s move is not new in French politics. In fact, the National Assembly has been dissolved in 1962, 1968, 1981, 1988 or 1997. The dissolution of this chamber is usually a way for the executive to resolve crises or situations of institutional stagnation. French President François Mitterrand dissolved the Assembly in 1981 and the electoral result allowed him a majority to win the election.

However, in 1997, President Jacques Chirac also used this constitutional device to win majority support, but the result promoted the Socialist Lionel Jospin, with whom he had to remain in the French government.