French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and called a fresh election on Sunday, following his party’s crushing defeat at the hands of far-right candidates in the European Union election.
The first round of the French Parliamentary election will take place on June 30. The second will be on July 7.
“France needs a clear majority in serenity and harmony. To be French, at heart, is about choosing to write history, not being driven by it,” Macron said.
The far-right National Rally is projected to win the European election in France with 31.5 percent of the vote — more than twice the 15.2 percent Macron’s liberal Renaissance party is projected to win.
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The National Rally’s share of the vote eclipsed the total for the second and third largest parties combined — with the center-left social democrats earning around 14 percent, according to early exit polls.
The decision to dissolve the National Assembly was met with disbelief by Macron’s supporters, with several people screaming “Oh no” as he spoke to a crowd in a televised address from his party headquarters in Paris.
In contrast, jubilant supporters of the National Rally party celebrated as Macron announced the dissolution of parliament, something the party had called for as the scale of their victory became apparent.
They sang “Dissolution, dissolution!” as they watched Macron’s address at an electoral event where long-time RN leader and famed Euroskeptic Marine Le Pen took the stage soon after.
“I can only welcome this decision, which is in line with the logic and architecture of the Fifth Republic,” Le Pen said to ecstatic followers. She said the result of the EU election should send a message to Brussels and “put an end to this painful epoch of globalism.”
She spoke on stage next to the National Rally’s lead candidate for the EU election, Jordan Bardella. As she finished speaking, the audience of several hundred sang the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, waved French tricolors and visited the buffet to get more drinks.
