PARIS.- Three days before the runoff of the legislative elections in Francewhich could lead to a government From the most conservative right, the electoral campaign became tense with the attack on the government spokesperson, in the latest in a series of incidents.
Prisca Thevenot, spokeswoman for President Emmanuel Macron’s centre-right government, and her team were attacked on Wednesday evening while campaigning for his re-election in Meudon, southwest of Paris.
The official was not injured in the attack, which was carried out by around twenty people, according to a source close to the case, but a collaborator and a member of her party had to be taken to hospital.
Four people, including three minors, were arrested for the incident, said the public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre, west of Paris, without specifying the motives for the incident, which occurred in the middle of an election campaign.
Thevenot, the daughter of immigrants from Mauritius, had warned hours earlier of the “increase in racist statements and attacks”, “openly”. “I am afraid,” she added on TF1, as “the mother of two mixed-race children”.
His attack is not the only one in the midst of a political crisis since Macron unexpectedly brought forward the legislative elections scheduled for 2027, following the victory of the far right in France in the European elections on June 9.
Paris leftist candidate Danielle Simonnet has claimed that “far-right militants” attacked three of her supporters on Tuesday night as they were putting up election posters in the west of the capital.
In Savoy, in south-eastern France, far-right candidate Marie Dauchy has reported being violently assaulted by a shopkeeper at a market.
With less than a month to go before the Olympic Games, the government is preparing for possible unrest starting Sunday evening, when the results of the legislative elections will be known, although it has not yet clearly identified the risks given the uncertain nature of the vote.
“Single party”
The French elect the 577 deputies of their National Assembly (lower house) in constituencies, using a two-round majoritarian single-member system. On June 30, 76 were elected in the first round.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies then won a third of the votes, ahead of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition (28%) and Macron’s centre-right alliance (20%).
To prevent an absolute majority for the far right, which would open the door to its rise to power for the first time since the liberation of France from Nazi Germany, the left and the ruling party wove a “republican front.”
This principle implies the withdrawal of the “republican” with the least chance of winning in those constituencies where candidates from both alliances qualified for the runoff, along with an ultra-rightist in a position of strength.
The absolute majority is 289 deputies and, according to projections by Toluna Harris Interactive released on Wednesday, the “republican front” strategy would achieve its objective of halting the rise of the far right.
According to the polling institute, the RN and its allies would win between 190 and 220 seats, followed by the left-wing coalition (159-183), the ruling party (110-135) and the sector of the right-wing party Les Républiques not allied with Le Pen (30-50).
This represents a change of scenery compared to the initial projections before the pacts, which did not rule out an absolute majority for RN. Le Pen considered on Thursday that this could still be achieved “if the electorate makes a final effort.”
“Emmanuel Macron’s great dream is a single party (…) of those who want to retain power against the will of the people,” the far-right leader added on BFMTV, referring to the “republican front.”
If these projections are confirmed, France would lack a clear majority to form a government. The hypothesis of a “grand coalition” against the RN seems complicated, given the cross-criticism between the ruling party and the radical wing of the NFP.
Source: With information from AFP
