Macron dissolves parliament and calls snap election after huge far-right gains

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced he was dissolving parliament and called snap legislative elections after the far-right trounced his centrist alliance in EU polls.

The first round of elections for the lower house National Assembly will take place on June 30, with the second round on July 7, Macron announced in an address to the nation. The outcome of the EU elections, he acknowledged, is “not a good result for parties who defend Europe.”

The French far-right National Rally (RN) on Sunday inflicted a heavy defeat on President Emmanuel Macron´s camp in EU elections, scoring over double the number of votes of the head of state´s centrist alliance, projections indicated.

The RN´s list, led by Jordan Bardella, 28, gained between 32.3 and 33 percent of the vote compared with 14.8 to 15.2 percent for Macron´s alliance led by his Renaissance party, according to projections published by several polling firms.

Macron was to address France later Sunday over the results, the presidency said. Bardella, speaking to supporters, said the French had “expressed a desire for change” and urged Macron to call snap legislative elections.

The score was the best ever recorded by the RN in elections in France.

The only consolation for the ruling party was it managed to narrowly retain second place ahead of a challenge from the Socialists, who were coming third with 13-14 percent of the vote, the projections showed.