“There are two gigantic screens, beams of colored light and music playing at a high level,” describes BBC in his life dedicated to the first round of parliamentary elections in France.
As journalist from Time Valérie de Graffenried, British media spend the evening live from Henin Baumont (Pas de Calais), where 700 activists of the National Assembly (RN) are expected to celebrate the results of their party. But also those of Marine Le Pen.
The candidate whom Emmanuel Macron defeated in the last presidential election was actually re-elected in the first round in her Pas-de-Calais constituency, she announced to applause shortly after 8 p.m.
French “passed a final judgment and confirmed their desire for change”said far-right party president Jordan Bardella from the Paris Wagram room.
With 33 to 35% of the vote, the RN and its allies can already consider “a strong relative majority or even an absolute majority at the end of the second round next Sunday”explain Time.
According to the direct transmission of German newspapers Die Zeit, the victory of the National Assembly (which, according to the first projections, could get between 240 and 310 seats in the future National Assembly) “it was expected”. But for the foreign press it is still important.
“Make no mistake, this is historicspecifies BBC. The National Assembly has never before won in the first round of parliamentary elections”. And as pointed out Politico Europe, extreme right “he has never been so close to power and the formation of a cohabitation government, with Macron as president.”
The first “from Vichy France?”
“Until now, it was unthinkable that a far-right government could come to France, remember CNN. In the past, opposition parties entered into ‘marriages of convenience’ with the majority to prevent the RN – formerly called the National Front – from coming to power.”
Now it could become Jordan Bardella (28), the president of the far-right party “the youngest prime minister in Europe for almost 200 years”.
Emmanuel Macron thus risks having to share power “with the first far-right government since Vichy France”, it even underlines the American daily The Wall Street Journal.
“Now it is no longer a shame to vote for the party that (Marine Le Pen) renamed in 2018 as ‘National Gathering'”, explained The viewer even before the announcement of the results of the first round.
Thanks to the strategy of “demonization” established year after year by Marine Le Pen, the party is uniting. “A political party has never been so well named,” even says the British conservative weekly.
The claim is confirmed by various reports in the foreign press. In Provins, in Seine-et-Marne, Der Spiegel tells how he became it is almost common to vote for a far-right party.
“‘We should try RN, we’ve never tested it.’ People say it quietly, like they’re choosing pasta at the supermarket. ‘Ah, look, these brown macaroni are something new. We’ve never tested that before.’
Same story on the side La Vanguardia, who went to Aisne, where the extreme right “conquers ever larger territories and social strata”.
“When I was young, I was a socialist activist and even went out at night to put up posters,” Bernard, a 79-year-old retired teacher, explains to a Spanish newspaper.
“I voted for François Mitterrand and even once for Mélenchon. I have now transferred to RN.”
in Toulon, The Washington Post met Charley Lenzini, 89, who has always voted for the Socialist Party, but was preparing to cast his vote for the far-right party for the first time.
“If someone comes to France to eat because they are dying of hunger, that is understandable, he explained. But allowing him to bring his father, grandfather and relatives is not normal.”