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Campaigning kicked off on Monday for France’s snap parliamentary election, which opinion polls suggest the far-right National Rally will win ahead of a left-wing alliance, with President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group trailing in third.
Political uncertainty has triggered heavy selling of French bonds and stocks since Macron unexpectedly called the election after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) trounced his ruling centrist party in European Parliament elections.
Macron’s gamble that he could catch other parties off-guard with just a few weeks to prepare for the vote, may backfire, the latest survey by Ifop for LCI suggested.
The poll suggests the eurosceptic, anti-immigration RN will get 33% of votes in the first round on June 30. That is down two points from Ifop’s previous poll, but with the share of the conservative Republicans willing to form an electoral alliance with the RN, the total reaches 37%.
The alliance of left-wing parties now stands at 28%, up two points, whereas Macron’s camp is a distant third at 18%, down one point. The second round will take place on July 7.
“We’re going into uncharted territory and, in my opinion, we are going to move towards an ungovernable Assembly,” 60-year-old voter Maxime Chetrit said.
