PARIS — After his snap election gamble backfired, Emmanuel Macron faces a bitterly painful choice: pull his candidates out to try to stop the far right, or attempt to save what remains of his once-dominant movement before it dies.
Europe’s second-biggest economy and the EU’s only nuclear-armed power is now closer than ever before to ushering in a far-right government for the first time, after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) took a dramatic lead in the first stage of voting.
If the second-round vote on July 7 delivers a parliamentary majority for the National Rally — and forecasts suggest it’s possible — France will be in uncharted waters: The country would be governed, at least in part, by politicians who made their names sympathizing with Vladimir Putin while vowing to rip up the European Union, wage war on migration and quit NATO.
Now his centrist allies face enormous pressure to pull out of the race in many areas and advise their supporters to vote for the left-wing alliance, which includes far-left radicals, in an attempt to beat Le Pen.
The far-left France Unbowed party and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has emerged as arguably an even greater foe for the centrists than Le Pen, after a year spent fighting in the National Assembly.
The clearest sign of the cordon sanitaire breaking came from Macron ally and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who explicitly called on voters to oppose the National Rally and France Unbowed, too.
The original article contains 1,190 words, the summary contains 244 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
PARIS — After his snap election gamble backfired, Emmanuel Macron faces a bitterly painful choice: pull his candidates out to try to stop the far right, or attempt to save what remains of his once-dominant movement before it dies.
Europe’s second-biggest economy and the EU’s only nuclear-armed power is now closer than ever before to ushering in a far-right government for the first time, after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) took a dramatic lead in the first stage of voting.
If the second-round vote on July 7 delivers a parliamentary majority for the National Rally — and forecasts suggest it’s possible — France will be in uncharted waters: The country would be governed, at least in part, by politicians who made their names sympathizing with Vladimir Putin while vowing to rip up the European Union, wage war on migration and quit NATO.
Now his centrist allies face enormous pressure to pull out of the race in many areas and advise their supporters to vote for the left-wing alliance, which includes far-left radicals, in an attempt to beat Le Pen.
The far-left France Unbowed party and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has emerged as arguably an even greater foe for the centrists than Le Pen, after a year spent fighting in the National Assembly.
The clearest sign of the cordon sanitaire breaking came from Macron ally and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who explicitly called on voters to oppose the National Rally and France Unbowed, too.
The original article contains 1,190 words, the summary contains 244 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!