French Far-Right Trounced In Runoff

By The Financial District
Jul 9, 2024
2 min read

A newly-formed coalition of leftist and environmental forces was the surprise success story in the recently concluded French runoff elections, defeating the far-right National Rally (NR), which had previously received the most votes in the parliamentary elections, kicking it to third place, Laura King reported for the LA Times.

Far-left La France Insoumise (LFI - France Unbowed) founder Jean-Luc Melenchon expressed his joy upon hearing the projections that his coalition beat the National Rally of Jordan Bardella and the centrist coalition of French President Emmanuel Macron. I Photo: La France insoumise Facebook

"C’est Ouf,” was the headline in Monday’s early editions of the left-leaning Liberation newspaper — crazy, in slang usage — superimposed on a photo of a gigantic gathering in the Place de la Republique, a historic central Paris square.

The stakes of the vote were reflected in unusually high tensions surrounding the race and by a turnout that authorities described as the highest in decades for a parliamentary contest.

For Jewish voters in France, the election was described as “a choice between the plague and cholera.”

The government deployed 30,000 police officers into the streets on election day, and dozens of candidates reported having been physically attacked during the run-up to the balloting.

Macron, whose term does not expire until 2027, can remain in his post, although some opponents were already calling on him to step down, Reuters and the Associated Press (AP) also reported.