French left, Macron allies trade barbs ahead of tight polls

• Left-wing forces and President Emmanuel Macron’s allies trade barbs ahead of the parliamentary vote.
• Final campaigning taking place with Macron out of the country as he visits Ukraine at end of three-day trip.
• Polls project a range of either a slim majority for Ensemble or a majority for left-wing alliance Nupes.

France’s left-wing forces and allies of centris French President Emmanuel Macron traded venomous barbs on Thursday, just days before the final round of closely contested parliamentary elections, in which the French leader faces losing his overall majority.

Losing a majority in the lower house of the 577-seat National Assembly in Sunday’s vote could be a major setback for Macron’s reform agenda, coming just two months after he defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in presidential elections.

Macron has endured a tricky start to his second term — against a background of rising prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — while the French left has finally united its disparate forces into a coalition.

The final campaigning is taking place with Macron out of the country as he visited Ukraine at the end of a three-day trip that also included stops in Romania and Moldova.

Read More: Macron, the French president, has called for “new talks” with Ukraine

The first round of the parliamentary vote on June 12 painted an inconclusive picture, with Macron’s centrist Ensemble (Together) coalition and the left-wing Nupes alliance led by hard-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon neck-and-neck on around 26 percent of the popular vote each.

Just five MPs — four from Nupes and one from Ensemble — were elected outright in the first round, leaving all to play for in Sunday’s run-off voting.

Polls project a range of either a slim majority for Ensemble or falling short by several dozen seats of the 289 MPs needed for an overall majority.

The nightmare outcome for Macron — seen as unlikely but not totally excluded — would be a majority for Nupes that would see Melenchon become prime minister in an uncomfortable “cohabitation”.

French Trumpism

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told French television Wednesday that the “seriousness” of the international situation meant it was vital to hold a “strong majority in the National Assembly to continue to hold our place in Europe and in the world”.

She slammed Nupes as “the alliance of circumstance” hiding Melenchon’s “extreme vision” that is “dangerous for our economy”.

But Manon Aubry, a European deputy for Melenchon’s party, accused Borne of “coming up with one lie after another”.

“She spent more than half of the interview talking about Nupes, which shows they are scared. The reality is that it’s them who bring chaos,” she told Franceinfo radio.

France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune, a close ally of Macron, accused Melenchon of “French Trumpism”, after the former US president, and coming up with “fake news”, especially on taxes.

Melenchon for his part accused Macron of acting like Trump in an unscheduled election speech at a Paris airport before leaving for Romania on Tuesday, where he urged voters to give him a “solid majority”, warning against adding “French disorder to global disorder”.

Le Monde daily Thursday complained that the campaign since the first round had descended into “caricature”.

“Rather than discussing the serious issues of the moment, the majority seeks to present the left as a threat to the republic while the Nupes candidates claim to reveal the ‘hidden agenda’ of the president,” it said.

Careers on line

Key members of the younger generation of French politics — Budget Minister Gabriel Attal, 33, Le Pen’s de facto number two Jordan Bardella, 26, and Melenchon ally Clementine Autain, 49 — will meanwhile take part in a televised debate at 1900 GMT.

According to the latest poll by Ifop-Fiducial for LCI and Sud Radio, Ensemble is projected to get 265-300 seats against 180-210 for the left, meaning the overall majority is far from assured.

With most cabinet ministers standing for election and Macron insisting that those who lose should step down, election night promises to be a nervous time for some big names.

Beaune, the face of France’s Europe policy, is facing a tough challenge from the left in his Paris constituency, while Environment Minister Amelie de Montchalin is in even more danger in the fight for her seat in the Essonne region south of Paris.

Read More: Nord Stream 1 must be stopped, according to German and French MEPs

France’s left-wing forces and allies of centrist President Emmanuel Macron traded venomous barbs on Thursday, just days before the final round of closely contested parliamentary elections, in which the French leader faces losing his overall majority.

Losing a majority in the lower house of the 577-seat National Assembly in Sunday’s vote could be a major setback for Macron’s reform agenda, coming just two months after he defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen in presidential elections.