Marine Le Pen celebrated the “rising tide” after winning the most seats in the National Assembly in the history of her populist party.
Marine Le Pen celebrated the “rising tide” of populism in France, declaring that victory for her National Rally is “only postponed” after winning the most seats in the National Assembly in the history of her anti-mass migration party on Sunday.
A backroom deal between President Emmanuel Macron and the far-left New Popular Front group of communists, environmentalists, and socialists to tactically stand down in selective races and therefore artificially boost support for leftist or liberal candidates depending on the district was effective in blocking a majority for the Le Pen party in the parliament.
Yet the former presidential candidate said that the desperate move by Macron is merely a setback and that the over ten million votes secured by her National Rally and its allies on Sunday — the most of any party — demonstrated that “the tide continues to rise” and that “our victory is only postponed”.
While there was some hope that RN could possibly win a majority in the National Assembly, the two-round system established in the wake of the Second World War to benefit establishment parties amid deep civil strife and the backroom deal with Macron and the far-left was successful in stymieing such an outcome, with the New Popular Front coming out on top with an estimated 184 seats and Macron’s group coming in second with a projected 166 seats, according to Le Figaro.
