The European Election results in France have confirmed that Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National – the former Front National – is once again the main opposition in the country to President Emmanuel Macron and his ruling La République en Marche. But outside of that polarised duel the rest of the French political landscape has been shattered,with an abstention rate of 49%. On the Left the environmentalists came top with 13% while on the Right the conservative Les Républicains – the party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy – has collapsed, picking up just 8% of the vote. Stéphane Alliès and Lénaïg Bredoux analyse the results in France.
Emmanuel Macron's strategy came back to haunt him. By reducing the political debate simply to his opposition to nationalism, the president allowed that very force to become the only opponent capable of beating him at the European elections held on Sunday May 26th. Meanwhile the Left and the mainstream Republican Right were divided and fragmented.
