WITH Britain’s election being staged in the very middle of the two rounds of the French election, a “tale of two countries” is unfolding this week.
While the predictions for Britain’s election left relatively little room for speculation, the world will be eagerly watching as the French go to vote in the second round of their snap parliamentary election on Sunday July 7.
The first round of the French election took place on June 30 with 33.15 per cent votes cast in favour of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN), 27.99 per cent votes in favour of the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, and 20.04 per cent votes going to President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist coalition Ensemble.
The popular support for the French far right in the outcome of the European Parliament’s election on June 9 was the precise threat under which President Macron dissolved the National Assembly and announced the snap election.
The same threat brought the hitherto fragmented leftist forces together. The NFP is a coalition formed by the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, the Greens, and the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI).
