French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies this morning launched a fresh week of intense campaigning hours after their party was humiliated last night in the first round of parliamentary elections by the hard-right National Rally (RN).
Rioting engulfed the streets of Paris last night as thousands of enraged left-leaning voters set light to rubbish, smashed up shop windows and launched fireworks after Marine Le Pen‘s RN steamed to victory with 33% of the first round vote.
Hordes of riot cops were dispatched across the city, particularly in the French capital’s Place de la République where the police clashed with flare-toting rioters into the early hours of the morning.
Macron’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is likely to be forced to resign after the second round, warned that the right was now at the ‘gates of power’ and implored voters to block the RN in the second round set for Sunday July 7.
But Macron’s centrist alliance is languishing in a distant third place with just 20% of the vote behind the left-wing New Popular Front alliance on 28%.
Le Pen late last night gleefully declared that Macron’s party had been ‘wiped out’ as she celebrated the victory, with the RN now targeting an absolute majority in the second round of elections this coming Sunday.
Such a victory would mark the first time a hard-right force has taken power in France since World War II amid the occupation by Nazi Germany – a fact not lost on left-wing politicians.
Raphael Glucksmann – a key figure in the left-wing alliance – said solemnly this morning: ‘We have seven days to spare France from catastrophe.’
