Such apathy for an electoral process has rarely been recorded in France. And yet. Sunday 12.06 is the first round of parliamentary elections. Melanson wants to be prime minister.
Any tourist in France these days will hardly notice that in a few days the first round of parliamentary elections in the country will take place. But even if no one is a tourist, the picture is the same. The pre-election campaign is completed in low tones and in general apathy, as the polls confirm. Not even one in two will go to the polls. So much frustration has rarely been recorded in the country. France appears more divided than ever and the discomfort of the people is great.
“Elect me Prime Minister” is the motto of Melanson
Yet. It has been just a few weeks since the liberal Emmanuel Macron was barely re-elected President of the Republic. In desperation, many voters, though disappointed with him, cast their ballots to stop the far-right Marin Lepen on the doorstep of the Elysee Palace. But now it all starts again, at least in theory. A few weeks have passed since the presidential elections and the newly elected president is again at the starting point of forming his own majority in the National Assembly. The new turnout is seen as a confirmation of previous elections, even if Macron’s name does not appear on any ballot paper. The same traditionally, however, is mainly voted by the supporters of the winner. The first round starts on Sunday, June 12, in the overseas possessions earlier. The first round in French Polynesia was last Sunday. Jean-Luc Melanson, a veteran of the Left, believes and hopes that this time things will be different. In the parliamentary elections, he collected an impressive percentage of 22% in the first round, but was in third place. “Elect a prime minister” is now his campaign slogan.
After the presidential election, Melanson managed to unite behind him the fragmented Left with the humiliated Socialists, the Ecologists, the Greens and the Communists. This new “People’s Ecological and Social Union” is on the rise, according to opinion polls. In the theoretical case where he gets the majority, Macron would be forced to appoint a prime minister from this camp. With this lever of power, Melanson is advertised in a targeted way and appears as an opponent of the French president. In this way he tries to give a boost to the election campaign, but it seems to be hitting the air. Because Macron does not seem willing to devote time and effort to the election campaign and leaves the field open to his opponent.
The “risk” of cohabitation is intense
But what has happened to Macron? Does he play with fire or does he think he is not in danger? Polls show his party, once a beacon of hope for the country, a significant loss of votes and a five-year crisis. But in the end, polling institutes start with the assumption that the Macron camp will regain a majority in the National Assembly. The 577 seats are distributed according to a complex electoral majority system. Is this the reason for the electoral fatigue? “The French clearly have other things on their minds,” Brice Tedierre, head of the Ipsos polling institute, told France Inter radio. “There is no election campaign.” Deafening silence prevails around Marin Le Pen, who within a few weeks was replaced by Melanson as the president’s main opponent. The reason for this is not a sudden change of mood, but the special features of the parliamentary elections. In contrast to the presidential elections, the local characteristics, the local bases are important here, and for Lepen this is not her strong card. Although both Macron and Melanson and their parties do not have strong local bases, they have cleverly forged alliances. The haircut of the political scene that became particularly visible in the presidential, is expected to be deleted in the two rounds, on June 12 and 19, with a left bloc, an extreme right and Macron in the center.
The Conservative Republicans, once the popular party that remains the strongest opposition force in the French National Assembly, are expected to suffer heavy losses. The Socialists, the second-largest traditional People’s Party, have joined Melanson’s left-wing alliance and adopted a Eurocritical line, accepting the rejection of some EU rules. years. Will Macron be able to rule? Will the balance of power force him to appoint a prime minister and a government from a different camp, or will parliament make his political life difficult? The fact that there is little interest in this important vote, despite the discontent in the country and the new dynamics of the left-wing alliance, is probably also due to the fact that discontent in France is traditionally expressed in the streets and not at the ballot box. Rachel Bozmeier, Michael Evers / dpa
Edited by: Irini Anastassopoulou
Source: Deutsche Welle
Source: Capital

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