Support for Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party in European Parliament election polls has fallen to 18%, while the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen party is supported by almost 30% of voters. In the latest polls, however, the electoral list of the French Socialists (PS) rises to third place.
It is this last fact that worries some Macron supporters, who believe that the president has made too many concessions to right-wing parties, now risking losing his centre-left supporters, Politico writes.
In the 2019 European Parliament elections, human rights activist Raphaël Glucksmann, who also founded his own Place Publique party, led the PS’s electoral list.
Glucksmann is a filmmaker who became known for his work as an advisor to Georgia’s pro-European former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and for taking part in the Ukrainian revolution, or Revolution of Dignity, in late 2013 and early 2014, when Ukrainians have taken to the streets to protest against the corrupt pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Raphaël Glucksmann has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019. In the latest opinion polls, the support of the joint list of the PS and Place Publique has risen to around 10%, making it the third most popular political party in France.
A senior Renaissance official told Politico that some of Macron’s former voters may turn to Glucksmann because he is a serious and friendly politician.
Some Macron supporters are disappointed with reforms implemented last year, such as raising the retirement age and the bill passed with the support of Le Pen’s party to significantly tighten immigration rules. More recently, Macron became the target of outrage from center-left voters when he publicly defended Gérard Depardieu, a French actor accused of rape.
Former Green European commissioner Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who previously supported Macron, called the president disappointed in a recent interview with Le Monde. Cohn-Bendit wants socialists and greens to form a joint list led by Glucksmann.
In addition to fighting for human rights, Glucksmann shares similar views to Macron. For example, he strongly supports aid to Ukraine and wants to see deeper integration of the European Union.
An election strategist associated with the French Greens, who wished to remain anonymous, told Politico that the Greens’ previous good performance in European Parliament elections was based on support from centrist voters.
According to the strategist, it is Glucksmann who has the best chance of attracting voters disillusioned with Macron, because the Greens’ campaign focuses too much on he woke up enhance the topics.
“If Glucksmann were to rise in the polls and start competing with the Renaissance list, left-wing voters could rally behind his list to punish Macron,” he said.
In 2019, the PS list led by Glucksmann received only 6.2% of the votes, which is why the current support of 10% is already significantly higher than then.
“If Glucksmann gets a high share of the vote, it means the Greens have fallen. If he gets 13 or 14 percent, that will be to the detriment of Renaissance,” said Jean-Yves Dormagen, director of research firm Cluster17.
Dormagen, whose latest poll from the research firm already predicts 11% for the list led by Glucksmann, added that it would be difficult, but not impossible, to achieve a better result than that of Renaissance, because only 4% of voters would have to support the list led by Glucksmann. by Glucksmann instead of Macron’s party.
2024-01-16 13:23:00
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