Macron calls on French to back centrist alliance in snap legislative elections

PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called on voters to back his centrist Renaissance alliance in legislative elections set to take place in less than three weeks.

"I want as many elected members of the presidential majority as possible," Macron told a press conference in Paris. "I hope that when the time comes, before or after (the legislative elections), men and women of goodwill who have been able to say no to the extremes, and who are able to build a joint project that is sincere and useful to the country, will come together."

Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for new legislative elections after the Renaissance alliance lost heavily to the far-right National Rally in the European Parliamentary elections on Sunday.

The National Rally won 31.5 percent of the vote, more than twice the share of Renaissance (15.2 percent), who came just ahead of the Socialists (14.3 percent).

Facing dozens of journalists, Macron defended the dissolution of the National Assembly, which many political observers view as a "great gamble." However, citing several surveys, Macron argued that "two thirds of French people understand and want this dissolution."

"Sunday's vote was clear. It is a vote on Europe, but the votes cast placed the far-right forces at almost 40 percent (of the vote) and the extremes (both right and left) at almost 50 percent. This is a fact that we cannot ignore. We must provide a democratic response. The return to the sovereign people is, in this context, the only republican decision," said the French president.

News of the snap elections has sent shockwaves through the French political ecosystem. On Monday, leaders of the left-wing parties, including the Greens and radical leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon's La France Insoumise, agreed to form a united "popular front" to present a single candidate in each constituency.

On Tuesday, Eric Ciotti, president of The Republicans, said he was in favor of an alliance with the National Rally. This announcement was criticized by many heavyweights in the traditional Gaullist party, who accused Ciotti of being a "traitor" and called for his resignation. An extraordinary session of the party's political bureau has been convened on Wednesday.

For Macron, an alliance of the left with the extreme left is "not natural", as parties within such an alliance have opposite views on key issues. Ciotti has "made a devil's pact" with the National Rally, he said.

Macron vowed to bring together all those who do not support extreme views to back his "central bloc". "We are ready to integrate proposals from the social democrats or the Republican right which would provide coherence," he said. "It is this restructuring of political life that I am now calling for."

The French president also recognized that his administration had failed to provide a rapid and radical enough response to the difficulties of the French people. "We are not perfect, we have not done everything well, but we have results," he said.

Macron presented major axes for new measures on security, immigration, youth, housing, and health and education.

When asked about the risk of placing the National Rally in power after the two rounds of elections for the lower house of parliament that will be held on June 30 and July 7, Macron said he refused to "hand the keys to power to the far right" in 2027 when he steps down after his second and last term.