Macron defends surprise snap-election call as ‘most responsible solution’

NEWS WIRES

18 June 2024 at 4:34 pm·1-min read

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday defended his decision to hold snap legislative elections where a predicted far-right victory could hobble his remaining term, calling it the "most responsible solution".

His far-right rival and potential future prime minister Jordan Bardella urged voters to give his alliance a clear majority and said he would "refuse" to become head of government without one.

Macron's bloc is trailing the far right and a new left-wing alliance in the polls and faces an uphill struggle to narrow the gap less than two weeks before the first round.

He stunned the nation by calling the polls for June 30 and July 7 after the far-right National Rally (RN) trounced his centrist alliance in EU elections earlier this month.

Macron lost his absolute parliamentary majority in 2022 and his second term, which runs to 2027, risks being hampered with the opposition controlling the government and parliament.

But the president hit back on Tuesday, saying dissolving the National Assembly was "the heaviest, the most serious, but the most responsible" solution after the EU election debacle.

The gamble has triggered a major realignment of French politics, with new alliances including hardliners forming on the left and right, and bewildered some of his allies.

"I don't want to be the president's assistant," he said.

(AFP)

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