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ELECTIONS

French far-right win in first round of pivotal French elections

The final results of the first round of France's crucial snap elections showed Marine Le Pen's far-right party ahead with a strong lead, followed by the leftist alliance and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist group in third place.

Published: 30 June 2024 19:03 CEST
Updated: 1 July 2024 07:02 CEST

French far-right win in first round of pivotal French elections

President of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) group at the National Assembly Marine Le Pen (L) and RN President Jordan Bardella sing the national anthem in Marseille on March 3, 2024, prior to the European elections. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP)

The final results, released early on Monday morning, showed the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party well in the lead with 33.4 percent of the votes.

They were followed by the alliance of leftist parties, called the Nouveau Front Populaire on 28 percent, Macron’s centrist group Ensemble on 20.8 percent, and the right-wing Les Republicains party on 10.2 percent.

Turnout was 66.7 percent, the highest for the first round of a legislative election since 1997.

After the results were released, Macron called for a “broad democratic alliance” against the far-right.

“Faced with the Rassemblement National, the time has come for a broad, clearly democratic and republican alliance for the second round,” he said in a statement.

He also said that the high turnout in the first round spoke of “the importance of this vote for all our compatriots and the desire to clarify the political situation.”

What next after the first round of voting?

France’s longtime far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Sunday voters needed to give her party an absolute majority in the second round of parliamentary elections so party chief Jordan Bardella can become premier.

“We need an absolute majority for Jordan Bardella to be appointed Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron in eight days’ time.

Explained: Who are all the parties and alliances in France’s snap election?

“The French have unequivocally shown their desire to turn the page on seven years of contemptuous, corrosive power. However, nothing is certain and the second round will be decisive,” she said.

The far-right’s Jordan Bardella said: “The French people have handed down a clear verdict.”

Bardella said he wanted to be the prime minister “of all French” who is respectful of the constitution in a “cohabitation” with President Emmanuel Macron, but “uncompromising”.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Nouveau Front Populaire leftist alliance said on Sunday that President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance had suffered a “heavy and indisputable” defeat in snap polls and urged French people to vote against the far-right.

Crucial second round of voting lies ahead.

The second round of voting takes place next Sunday – July 7th.

The two highest scorers from round one go through, plus anyone else who got more than 12.5 percent of the total votes cast.

The high turnout has resulted in an unusually high number of three-way contests in the second round – in total there are 190 two-person second rounds, 306 three-person contests and five four-way splits.

A handful of candidates also won outright in the first round including Marine Le Pen and Parti Socialiste leader Olivier Faure. In Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire won in the first round, knocking out former Macron minister Clément Beaune.

In a bid to keep out the far right Mélénchon’s leftist alliance said it would withdraw candidates who finished third in the first round.

“Our instructions are clear: not one more vote, not one more seat for the RN”, said Mélenchon.

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Explained: What was France's Fourth Republic and why it's in the news again

Le spectre de la IVe République plane-t-il sur Macron ? – Is the spectre of the Fourth Republic hanging over Macron?

If you’re following French press coverage of the chaotic political situation in France right now, you might be coming across more and more sentences like this.

But while the Fourth Republic is a standard part of the French history syllabus, it doesn’t make it into many lesson plans outside France.

Here’s a look at what the Fourth Republic was, and why it might be relevant to the modern political crisis.

When

The 4th republic ran from 1946 to 1958. French history is divided into the ancien regième (pre French Revolution) and the post-Revolution period which is divided into a series of republics, interspersed with a few non-republic periods such as when Napoleon got carried away and declared himself emperor.

You can find a fuller history here, but in brief the republics go;

1792-1804 – first republic. Runs from the abolition of the monarchy during the French Revolution until Napoleon declared himself emperor
1848-1852 – second republic. Ended when Napoleon’s nephew Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) overthrew the government and declared a second French empire with himself at the head
1870-1940 – third republic. Ended with the Nazi invasion of France in 1940 when the republic was suspended and the period of the occupation and Vichy government began.
1946-1958 – fourth republic. This one ended with a threatened military coup over Algerian independence, a panicked government brought WWII resistance leader Charles de Gaulle back into government and passed a new constitution.
1958-present day – fifth republic.

Each republic has its own constitution with significant differences in aspects such as how the political system works and the powers of the president versus the government.

What was going on?

The Fourth Republic covered a turbulent period in French politics – in 1946 the country was emerging from one of the most traumatic periods in its history; the Nazi occupation of World War II.

Nearly bankrupt, the country was also dealing with the national shame of the occupation and the collapse of the democratic government in 1940 (replaced by the un-elected collaborationist Vichy regime).

The Fourth Republic ended in turmoil (as have all French republics so far, in fact) during the exceptionally brutal war of independence in Algeria.

Sensing that the government in Paris was paving the way for Algeria to be given independence from France, French soldiers in Algeria launched a military coup in opposition to this – the military also seized power in Corsica.

The national government panicked, fearing that insurrection could spread to France itself and other colonies.

Charles de Gaulle – who made his name as a figurehead of the French resistance during WWII and as the country’s first post-war leader – was called out of retirement to unite the country, restore order and avoid what some feared would become a civil war.

But what about the politics?

The Fourth Republic wasn’t just a turbulent period in history – it was also an extremely unstable period for governments.

Over its 12-year duration, there were a total of 24 governments.

Governments rose and fell with dizzying regularity – a man named Pierre Pflimlin was prime minister for a grand total of 18 days in 1958, and he wasn’t even the shortest-serving PM of the fourth republic.

Parliament was also frequently deadlocked, coalitions and alliances were made and broken rapidly and prime ministers came and went as through a revolving door – the shortest serving PM was Robert Schuman who served just nine days, but that was his second shot at the job.

Henri Queuille was prime minister three times, in 1948, 1950 and 1951 and his first period in the job was the longest premiership of the Fourth Republic, lasting a whopping one year and 47 days.

It was a reaction to this political chaos that strongly influenced the constitution of the Fifth Republic – set up with Charles de Gaulle at the head in 1958.

De Gaulle insisted that the president was given widespread powers, at the expense of parliament, in order to curb what he saw at the excess of parliamentary powers that contributed to the turmoil of the Fourth Republic.

It’s why the French president to this day has constitutional powers to over-rule parliament, for example through the tool known as Article 49.3 which allows a president to force through legislation even if parliament opposes it.

The Fifth Republic also set up the president as the dominant political power in France – previously that had been the prime minister, with the president having more of a ceremonial role.

Its sheer instability means that these days the Fourth Republic is little lamented – those who call for a complete change of the system of government and the creation of a Sixth Republic tend to skip over the fourth altogether and use as a model the Third Republic.

But this is ancient history, why are we talking about it now?

The Fourth Republic is back in the news because it looks like France may be facing a new period of chaos in parliament.

The snap parliamentary elections called by president Emmanuel Macron were intended to restore a sense of consensus, but look like they are backfiring and instead creating a more turbulent situation.

Current polls suggest that the far-right Rassemblement National will be the biggest party, but it’s not certain whether they will win enough seats in parliament to gain an absolute majority.

If the party wins a majority the most likely outcome is that Macron will be forced to appoint far-right leader Jordan Bardella as prime minister and rule jointly with him in a very uneasy cohabitation.

If the far-right become the biggest party but don’t get a majority the most likely result is chaos – with attempts to build fragile alliances or coalitions between parties.

The “spectre of the Fourth Republic” is therefore the spectre of chaos and deadlock in parliament and maybe even a PM who will break Robert Schuman’s unenviable record of just nine days in office.

OPINION: The best that France can hope for now is 12 months of chaos

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