French elections: Bardella triumphs, Macron dissolves the Chamber

Marine Le Pen hailed Macron's decision, which puts her back on track after months in which she was eclipsed by the young leader, claiming her party's role in Macron's decision. "The vote of the French is unequivocal: the president, responding to Jordan Bardella's appeal, has just announced a return to the polls." "We are ready to exercise power _ he added - ready to put an end to this mass immigration, to make purchasing power a priority, ready to revive France."

The socialists of Reveiller l'Europe, with the Raphaël Glucksmann leader, obtained 13.8% of the vote and 13 seats, against the 6.2% and 6 seats won in 2019 by a broader coalition than the current one (which includes only Ps and Place Publique); however, it misses by just under 200,000 votes the undeclared but long pursued goal of coming second. The leader immediately criticised the president's decision to call the polls: 'I don't understand why we obey Bardella,' he said, 'It is very dangerous.

It was followed by the socialists La France Insoumise, of the radical left, which gained 9.9% and 9 seats, up from 6.3% and 6 seats in 2019. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's party immediately called for a pact for the left with the greens and communists, to retrace the experience of the cartel in 2022 that came in third place one step behind Rn. Les Républicains, heirs of the neo-Gollist tradition, obtained 7.2% and 6 seats. In 2019, in what had appeared to be a major defeat attributed to the choice of adopting certain themes of the populist right, they had obtained 8.48% and eight seats.

In 2019, the third party had surprisingly emerged as Europe Ecologie with 13.48% and, potentially, 13 seats. This year, the Greens led by Marie Toussaint stopped at 5.5% and 5 seats, ahead by less than three thousand votes of the Reconquête's radical right ( Eric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal), at 5.5% and 5 seats (it was not present in 2019).

Based on the votes, the left - corresponding to Nupes, the electoral pact of 2022 - obtained, taking into account also the communists who did not reach the quorum, 31.5%, and 26 seats, against 28.5% in 2019. The radical right won 37%, and 35 seats, against 23.3% (plus Debout La France's 3.5%). For the first time, pro-European parties, at 41.5%, are in the minority.

Votes in big cities

Some large cities show a completely different landscape compared to the national vote, confirming the clivage between urban centres and the countryside, which is deepening more and more. In Paris, the first party was the Ps, with 22.9%, followed by Besoin d'Europe (17.7%), La France Insoumise (16.7%), Europe Ecologie (10.7%), the Républicains (10.5%) and finally the Rassemblement nationale - which is, however, first in the Ile de France - with 8.5%. In Marseille, Rn is first with 30.1%, followed by La France Insoumise (21.5%), the Ps (11.5%), Besoin d'Europe (10.3%), Reconquete! (6.9%) and the ecologists (5.6%). In Lyon, governed by the Greens, the leading party is the Ps (18.8%), followed by La France Insoumise (17.2%), Besoin d'Europe (15.8%), Rn (13.5%) and Europe Ecologie (11.2%). In Toulouse, the fourth largest city in the country, the Ps is the first party (21.4%), followed by La France Insoumise (19.7%), Rn (13.6%) and Besoin d'Europe (13.1%).

The official French data, unlike the Italian ones, also indicate the percentage of votes obtained with respect to the number of people entitled to vote: an irrelevant datum to assess the weight of each party, it is instead important - especially in the European elections, where voting is by single round and with a proportional system - to assess the actual consensus of the political forces and the role of abstention, which was 48.2%, compared to 49.9% in 2019. Out of one thousand people entitled to vote, 159 voted Rn, 73 the Macronians, 70 the Socialists, 50 La France Insoumise, 37 the Républicains, 28 the Greens and Zemmour's Right.