'Hazardous risk': Macron takes 'opponents by surprise', giving birth to left-wing Popular Front

There, joining me on the set is Damian Le Comte, the political scientist and researcher from Paris Sorbonne University. Is it time for the left to RDB toasting? Do we really have confidence that this alliance will fare better than the previous one that we had seen seven months ago that collapsed the nupus or nup depending on how you pronounce it? Well, the fact that the left wing parties succeeded to, to reach this alliance prove the gravity of the situation and the danger that the far right is right now for, for the political life. And what is quite different with this new alliance is that the, the, the out left, the France and border Francis Smith is not as dominant as it was before because the European elections, they have more seats. Yes, there are more seats, but they, they, they do, they no longer have the majority of the seats. And so the the Greens and the Socialists, the two of them have the majority with the turn so and Jean Luc Merton is clearly no longer the leading candidate for Prime Minister. He is not as an obvious candidate as he was in 2022 because he he has appeared to be a far, far more divisive figure. And he is no not as consensual as it could be in 2022. How indicative is this of the French public? On the one hand, we have the far right National Rally, if you listen to this Popular Front, they're the only viable alternative. But as you mentioned, there's a far left element within there is the majority of the French public split between these two people. In the presidential election, there was a clear diminution of three candidates. That was Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen for a far right and Jean Pinochon for the left. And even if the left is more diverse now and more balance between it's more radical elements and it's more moderate Greens and and socialists, it is clear that the, the, the Brock of the far right and the left wing are now in the European elections where the dominant forces because of the the Macronis coalition has clearly declined in in this election. So now the, it seems likely that the, the left wing and the far right are indeed going to be the, the, the two dominant forces, but the, the Macronis centre is going to try to, to, to, to interfere in this, in this role. And of course, in France, we have that two round voting system where we can sometimes see some surprises in round one, only to perhaps be corrected in round two, if you will, corrected in the sense that like maybe people vote for the preference in round one, trying to get leaders to shift their politics for round two. How do you think this plays out in round one? Well, what is interesting here is that this majority system for a long time has has been an obstacle for the far right to to have more seats in parliament. But maybe we have reached the point that it's going to boost the, the election of more far right members in National Assembly. What is going to be very, very difficult for the, the Macronis candidates for the presidential coalition can, is precisely to reach the second round. Because as we can see in the European elections, they, they, they would have difficulty to, to, to, to reach the second round to, to be first or second in the majority of constituencies. So at this point, of course things can evolve. But at this point, we can expect that the majority of second rounds will be between far right and the the left wing coalitions and maybe in some in some constituencies the the Macronis will try to to be in in this country, but it's going to be more difficult for them this time. So. So did Macron misplay his hand here? Well, Emmanuel Macron clearly hopes to, to, to, to, to provoke rally with the flag effect and to, to take his opponents by surprise. But probably he did not expect the left to, to, to achieve a new alliance like that. So yes, it's it's, it is clear that the president has taken a very hazardous risk. All right, Damien, thank you very much for your time. Damien le Con from Sorbonne University, thank you. Thank you.