French legislative elections: A third of far-right RN MEPs stand as candidates

3 months ago 8

French far-right politicians elected to Brussels are rushing back to Paris, campaigning to take seats in the next parliamentary assembly, with half of the 80 on the EU elections list running at the national level.

Eight of the 30 far-right Rassemblement National (RN) members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected in June’s European elections are returning to the campaign trail for the early French legislatives elections scheduled for 30 June and 7 July.

In the wake of the far-right RN’s overwhelming results in the European elections (31.4% and 30 seats), the French President Emmanuel Macron, a Liberal, announced the dissolution of the French National Assembly, the country’s lower chamber, after only managing to get half of the RN’s score.

As a result, the different parties only had one week (9 to 16 June) to find candidates for the legislative elections and nominated newly elected MEPs to be candidates at the national elections.

Six of them are new RN MEPs: Anne-Sophie Frigout, Julie Rechagneux, Sylvie Josserand, Gaëtan Dussausaye, Rody Tholassy and Julien Leonardelli.

As Euractiv revealed last week, outgoing MEPs Virginie Joron and Marie Dauchy are also candidates.

“The priority today is France and the French people. This sanction vote against Emmanuel Macron’s policies [in favour of the RN at the European elections] and this vote of support for our party – must mobilise us all,” Joron told Euractiv.

If she wins in her constituency of Bas-Rhin (Alsace), Joron will have to leave her seat in European Parliament, leaving it to the next person on the list that would have otherwise not been elected, in this case André Rougé, an outgoing MEP.

More than twenty persons on the RN European elections list that were not elected are candidates for national elections.

Theoretically, if all of them and RN MEPs who are candidates, are elected, this means that candidates ranking after 50th place on the RN European election list could enter the European Parliament.

But realistically, there is very little chance that all those standing will enter the National Assembly as most stood unsuccessfully in the 2022 legislative elections.

Some were exceptions: MEPs Joelle Mélin and Hélène Laporte succeeded in entering the French hemicycle.

At present, the momentum seems to be in the RN’s favour, and some polls promise up to 265 seats out of 577 at the end of the two rounds of French elections, i.e. close to an absolute majority (289).

That said, when it comes to two-round elections, past votes show polls can be wrong.

The 2022 legislative elections showed that the gap between the projections made and reality could be very wide: The RN was predicted to win between 20 and 30 seats, but ended up taking 89.

Three of the 14 RN MEPs who were not reappointed to run for the European elections are also standing in the parliamentary elections: Patricia Chagnon, Jean-Lin Lacapelle and Dominique Bilde.

(Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Alice Taylor)