France Faces ‘Consequential’ Vote as Far-Right Rout Prompts Macron Gamble 

French President Emmanuel Macron appears on a screen as he delivers a speech following results after the polls closed in the European Parliament elections, in Paris, France, June 9, 2024. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron appears on a screen as he delivers a speech following results after the polls closed in the European Parliament elections, in Paris, France, June 9, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

France Faces ‘Consequential’ Vote as Far-Right Rout Prompts Macron Gamble 

French President Emmanuel Macron appears on a screen as he delivers a speech following results after the polls closed in the European Parliament elections, in Paris, France, June 9, 2024. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron appears on a screen as he delivers a speech following results after the polls closed in the European Parliament elections, in Paris, France, June 9, 2024. (Reuters)

France's finance minister said on Monday that the snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron after a bruising loss to the far-right in European Parliament elections would be the most consequential legislative vote in the republic's history.

Macron's shock decision amounts to a roll of the dice on his political future. It could hand a great deal of power to Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) after years on the sidelines, and neuter his presidency three years before it is due to end.

The legislative vote will take place on June 30, less than a month before the start of the Paris Olympics, with a second round on July 7.

"This will be the most consequential parliamentary election for France and for the French in the history of the Fifth Republic," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio.

A source close to Macron said the president hoped to mobilize voters who had abstained from voting on Sunday.

"We're going for the win," the source said. "There's audacity in this decision, risk-taking, which has always been part of our political DNA."

The euro fell 0.5% in early European trade, while Paris blue-chip stocks dropped 2%, led by steep losses in banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.

Helmed by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, the RN won about 32% of the vote on Sunday, more than double the Macron ticket's 15%, according to exit polls. The Socialists came within a whisker of Macron with 14%.

Analysts said Macron's decision aimed to make the best of his weak position, reclaiming the initiative and forcing RN into election mode faster than it would have liked.

Some RN leaders appeared to have been caught off-guard.

"We didn't think it would be immediately after the European elections, even if we wanted it to be," RN deputy chairman Sebastien Chenu said on RTL Radio. "Elections are rarely a gift and in this context, they aren't."

Bardella will be the party's candidate for prime minister, he added.

The result is hard to predict. The outcome is likely to depend on how committed leftist and center-right voters are to the idea of blocking the far-right from power. Voter turnout on Sunday was about 52%, the interior ministry said.

If the RN wins a majority, Macron would still remain as president and direct defense and foreign policy. But he would lose the power to set the domestic agenda, from economic policy to security.

His Renaissance party currently has 169 lower house lawmakers out of a total of 577. The RN has 88.

Eurasia Group said the RN was no shoo-in for a majority, predicting a hung parliament as the most likely scenario.

"Faced with another hung parliament, (Macron) will try to form a wider alliance with the center-right or center-left, possibly by appointing a prime minister from one of those camps," it said in a note.

"We foresee a losing struggle for serious domestic reform or strict deficit reduction in the remaining three years of Macron's term."

The dismal performance by Renaissance contrasted with the center-right's broader showing across the EU. The center-right European People's Party (EPP) will be the biggest political grouping in the new legislature, gaining five seats to field 189 deputies, a centralized exit poll showed.



Harris, Trump End Historic Campaigns with Final Pitch to Voters

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) speaks during a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) speaks during a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Harris, Trump End Historic Campaigns with Final Pitch to Voters

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) speaks during a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks during a campaign rally on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 4, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) speaks during a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump made their final case Monday in the hours before Election Day, when voters will either choose America's first woman president or hand the Republican an unprecedented comeback likely to rattle the world.

With polls showing a dead heat, Trump promised to lead the United States to "new heights of glory" while Harris said the "momentum is on our side," as the rivals held their last rallies of the 2024 race in crucial battleground states.

The Democratic vice president finished on a high note in Philadelphia in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, with a rally on the steps immortalized by the boxing movie "Rocky."

"This could be one of the closest races in history -- every single vote matters," said Harris, who was joined by celebrities including Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

She also referenced the film, telling thousands of supporters that "here at these famous steps" she was paying "tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory."

Harris, 60, has repeatedly said she is the underdog, having only joined the race three months ago after President Joe Biden dropped out. But she insisted she would win.

Former president Trump brought several family members -- with the conspicuous absence of his wife Melania -- up on stage at his closing rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

There, as in an earlier swing through North Carolina and Pennsylvania, his speech bristled with dark rhetoric.

"With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America -- indeed, the world -- to new heights of glory," he told the crowd, as the clocks ticked over into Tuesday.

- 'Show up' -

Their final pitches reflected the critical importance that turnout is likely to play in a nail-biting race.

Both sides say they are encouraged by early turnout, with more than 82 million people having cast early ballots -- but they now need to mobilize supporters on Election Day itself.

A charged-up Trump said his supporters can "put ourselves in a position to win, which we can do very easily if we show up."

Harris said, "We need everyone to vote in Pennsylvania and you will decide the outcome."

Polls open on the East Coast at 6:00 am (1100 GMT) Tuesday -- although in the tiny New Hampshire hamlet of Dixville Notch they opened at the stroke of midnight, recording three votes for Trump and three for Harris.

In the final days, the Republican and Democrat have delivered sharply contrasting messages.

Speaking earlier in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump pursued his apocalyptic vision of a United States in decline and overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, whom he described as "savages" and "animals."

Harris, meanwhile, hammered home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans across the United States -- one of her key vote-winning positions.

But she also took an upbeat, centrist note, calling for a "fresh start" after nearly a decade of Trump dominating US political discourse.

- High tension -

At 78, Trump is the oldest major party nominee ever to run for US president.

But despite being tarred with criminal convictions and the scandal of his supporters' violent attack on Congress four years ago, when he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, he goes into Election Day with major advantages.

Trump has pressed home on voter concerns about the economy and illegal migration while his harsh rhetoric is catnip to his right-wing base.

His message struck home for first-time voter Ethan Wells, a 19-year-old restaurant cook in Michigan.

Biden "let a lot of illegals in, and they've been murdering and raping our own people," he told AFP. "When Trump was president, nobody messed with America."

Harris has had to build an entire campaign in three months but she has quickly galvanized the Democratic Party and stirred excitement among young voters and women.

"Tomorrow, we will elect the first female president," Luke Little, a 24-year-old server, said in Philadelphia.

The world is anxiously watching as the outcome will have major implications for conflicts in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine, and for tackling climate change, which Trump calls a hoax.

The most immediate fear is that US democracy will be tested if Trump loses but refuses to accept defeat like he did four years ago, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

With Trump having narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July and police foiling a second alleged plot, the fears of violence are very real.

In Washington, growing numbers of businesses and office buildings are being boarded up in case of unrest.