Macron urges French voters to make ‘right choice' in polls gamble

His surprise move comes after far right crushed his centrist alliance at EU ballot

President Emmanuel Macron said on June 10 that he was confident the French people would make the “right choice” in snap elections he called, after the far right crushed his centrist alliance at the EU ballot.

His surprise move came after mainstream centrist parties kept an overall majority in the European Parliament in the polls on June 9, but the far right notched up a string of high-profile victories in Italy, Austria and France.

In Germany, where the three ruling coalition parties also performed dismally, centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman on June 10 ruled out snap polls.

Analysts say the French leader has taken the extremely risky gamble of dissolving the national Parliament in a bid to keep the far-right National Rally (RN) out of power when his second term ends in 2027.

“I am confident in the capacity of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations,” Mr Macron wrote on social media platform X on the morning of June 10.

“My sole ambition is to be useful to our country that I love so much.”

Mr Macron’s announcement of elections for a new National Assembly on June 30, with a second round on July 7, has sparked widespread alarm, even from within the ranks of his own party.

Newspaper Le Monde wrote in an editorial: “By playing with fire, the head of state could end up burning himself and dragging the entire country into the fire.”