PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was confident the French would make the "right choice" in snap elections he called after the far right crushed his centrist alliance in Sunday's EU ballot.
His surprise move came after mainstream centrist parties kept an overall majority in the European Parliament in Sunday's poll, but the far right notched up a string of high-profile victories in Italy, Austria and France.
In Germany, where the three ruling coalition parties also performed dismally, centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman on Monday ruled out a snap poll.
Analysts say the French leader has taken the extremely risky choice of dissolving the national parliament in a bid to keep the far-right National Rally (RN) out of power when his second term ends in 2027.
"I am confident in the capacity of the French people to make the right choice for themselves and for future generations," Macron wrote on X on Monday morning.
"My sole ambition is to be useful to our country that I love so much."
Macron's announcement of elections for a new National Assembly on June 30, with a second round on July 7, has sparked widespread alarm, even from within the ranks of his own party.
"By playing with fire, the head of state could end up by burning himself and dragging the entire country into the fire," Le Monde wrote in an editorial.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist, described the prospect of elections just weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics as "extremely unsettling".
But International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach played down any direct impact on the event.
Macron warned of the danger of "the rise of nationalists and demagogues" for France and its place in Europe.
He noted that, including the RN, far-right parties in France had managed to take almost 40 percent of the EU Parliament vote.
Macron hopes to win back the majority he lost in France's lower house in 2022 legislative elections after winning a second term.
But some fear the anti-immigration RN could instead win, forcing Macron to work in an uncomfortable coalition with a far-right prime minister.
RN vice-president Sebastien Chenu on Monday said the party's 28-year-old leader Jordan Bardella would be its contender for the post.
Bardella's mentor Marine Le Pen, who was runner-up in the last two presidential elections, has remained party leader in parliament and is largely expected to tilt for the top job again in 2027.
The far right came out on top in France, Italy and Austria, and second in Germany and the Netherlands. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
