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Interview: French legislative elections "more important" after presidential race: expert

Xinhua, April 24, 2017 Adjust font size:

Foreign policy expert Madani Cheurfa has said the outcome of elections for the French National Assembly will be the real sign of how the French political landscape has been reshaped.

Cheurfa, secretary general of the Research Center at the Political Science Institute in Paris (CEVIPOF), discussed with Xinhua the implications of centrist newcomer Emmanuel Macron and extreme-right candidate Marine Le Pen moving on to the runoff in the French presidential elections.

"The legislative elections next June will be more important than ever and will indicate what will be the practice of power for the next five years to come in France."

"The legislative elections will show if the winner of the second round (Macron according to our projections) will have a large majority or a coalition. This would make us enter into a France where the practice of power will be more animated, more intense," he added.

Addressing the first round of presidential elections, Cheurfa point out that with 7.6 million votes in the first round, the National Front gained close to 1.2 million votes between 2012 and 2017, which is a historic record for the party.

During the legislative elections, the National Front will present candidates in every district and Marine Le Pen herself should run in Henin-Beaumont (northern France).

"If she wins, she could enter the National Assembly and construct a group of representatives with the necessary visibility to create an opposition to Macron. We would be in a fairly unique situation with those supporting globalization and a united Europe, opposed by Le Pen and her supporters wanting a France with closed borders," Cheurfa said.

The expert said traditional French political parties such as the Republicans and Socialists, both eliminated during the first round of presidential voting, risk a further fall in popularity even though they traditionally benefit from "strong local establishments."

"A major discussion is underway to know who will lead the Republican party during the legislative elections, knowing that it is possible that there will be more leaders elected from the National Front than the Republicans," Cheurfa stated.

Everything rides on the rate of voter turnout during the legislative elections. If Macron is elected as French president, he would need to put forward a name for prime minister who will give direction to the entirety of his sponsors from the right, the center and the left, he added. Endit