Does 28-year-old Jordan Bardella really want to become France’s new prime minister? It depends, reports Politico.
“I will be neither powerless nor an aide to the President of the Republic,” the far-right National Rally’s (RN) president told Le Parisien newspaper. “To govern, I need an absolute majority.”
Bardella is leading the RN’s campaign in the lightning-speed legislative campaign triggered by President Emmanuel Macron shock decision to call snap elections. In France, the president traditionally appoints the leader of the main party or coalition in parliament as prime minister if his own camp loses the legislative elections.
Such cases, which are referred to in France as cohabitations, have occurred three times under the current system of government, but the situation may be more complicated on July 7, after the second round of the vote. While the National Rally is projected to obtain the most seats in the National Assembly, at this point it is not expected to obtain the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.
With a minority government, the RN would have to seek coalitions with other political forces, a task which could prove complicated due to the staunch opposition to the far right expressed by nearly all other political forces.