French left-wing parties including the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party, the Greens (EELV) and France Unbowed presented a united front Monday evening, a day after President Emmanuel Macron called for snap legislative elections. Macron’s shock announcement Sunday came after a bruising loss to the far right in the European elections. Campaigns for the first round will begin on June 17. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Macron said on Monday he was confident that the French would make the right choice in the upcoming legislative elections.
"I am confident in the capacity of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations. My sole ambition is to be useful to our country that I love so much," Macron said on X.
His stunning announcement came after EU election projections showed the far-right National Rally (RN) had scored more than double the votes of his centrist alliance in the French vote.
In his address to the nation on Sunday, Macron noted that in total far-right parties in France had won almost 40 percent of the vote.
"It is a situation to which I cannot resign myself ... I cannot act as if nothing had happened," Macron added.
