France heads back to its post-war era of ungovernability

“Our victory is only postponed.” Ms Marine Le Pen put a brave face on

the defeat for her far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party

in France’s parliamentary election on July 7. In reality, third place for the RN, according to provisional results, is a bitter disappointment. The party thought it would finally have the opportunity to show the French people it could govern, giving the party a springboard for the more important 2027 presidential election. But French voters turned out in droves to stop it.

One reason was that the RN proved to be not so detoxified, fielding candidates with extremist backgrounds or a record of racist and anti-Semitic statements. But, more importantly, France’s so-called republican front – the willingness of its centrist and left-wing parties to join forces to thwart the far right’s rise to power – proved resilient. The RN depicts this as a cynical game by the political establishment to lock it out of power. Voters, though, went along with it.