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Breaking news. French President Emmanuel Macron announces anticipated elections after stinging EU elections defeat
Macron’s Renew party suffered a stinging defeat in the European elections, securing just 15.2% of the votes to the far-right National rally’s 31.5%, according to provisional results.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday evening that he would dissolve the national assembly after the far-right National Rally crushed his centrist Renew party in European elections.
In a five-minute video address released on social media shortly after 21:00 CET, Macron said that “after having carried out the consultations provided for in Article 12 of our Constitution, I have decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future by voting.”
“I am therefore dissolving the National Assembly this evening,” he added.
His address came just one hour after his centrist Renew party was handed a heavy blow by coming in a very distant second in the European elections to the RN, scoring 15.2% and 31.5% respectively.
Jordan Bardella, the RN’s lead candidate for these elections, had in his victory speech delivered shortly after the provisional results came out, called for such a move.
Macron retorted in his address that “the rise of the nationalists and demagogues is a threat not only to our nation but also to our Europe and to France’s place in Europe and in the world”.
“The extreme right is both the impoverishment of the French people and the downfall of our country. So at the end of this day, I can’t pretend that nothing has happened,” he added.
He said the national ballot, which is to be held on June 30 for the first round and on July 7 for the second, is a “serious and weighty decision” and an “act of trust”.
“Confidence in you, my dear compatriots, in the ability of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations. Confidence in our democracy, in giving a voice to our sovereign people, nothing is more republican,” he also said.
Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.
