‘Victory Only Postponed’ — Le Pen Hails ‘Rising Tide’ as Her National Rally Wins Most Seats in History of 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 stand down in selective races 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.

However, despite all of these obstacles, the National Rally and its conservative allies won 143 seats in the National Assembly, the most in the history of the populist party. For context, the party only had 2 seats when Marine Le Pen took over as leader from her father in 2012. The result is also more than 50 more seats than in the National Rally won in 2022.

The strong showing for RN will not only establish the anti-mass migration populist party as a force to be reckoned with in the National Assembly but will also put Le Pen in a strong position to challenge in the French presidential election in 2027.

Although Macron has been effective at rallying neo-liberals and leftists around the fear of the so-called “far-right” in the previous two presidential elections and indeed last week’s legislative elections, he will be prevented from running again given the two-term limit.

It is currently unclear if there is a successor to Macron’s centrist-globalist faction who has the personal charisma needed to keep the coalition together.

It is also not a sure thing that Macron will be able to navigate the deeply unstable political climate for the remainder of his own term, with his next government likely being reliant on communists and socialists with deep ideological disagreements with the president on economics and international policy. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélonchon has already demanded that Macron either resign or appoint a far-left prime minister.

To make matters worse for Macron, France is also facing a looming debt crisis which could expand into a full-blown economic disaster, with debt rising to over 3 trillion euros ($3.2 trillion) or approximately 110 per cent of GDP. This crisis may be further exacerbated by Macron’s new far-left partners, who have already demanded that the rise in pension age to 62 be reversed back to 60.

Being out of government, Le Pen will be able to credibly hang the economic hardships facing average French citizens around the neck of elites like Macron and his far-left partners, potentially giving her party another major issue — besides opposition to mass migration — to campaign on in the 2027 presidential election.

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