macron, frpol
My impression is that Macron called this election basically in order to hand over power to RN, making the election campaign extremely short as an attempt to avoid the left crystallizing around specific candidates in most districts, and working quietly behind the scenes to maintain ENS vote splitting against the NPF between rounds 1 and 2 (against his own PM).
The election loss is as much Macrons as it is RNs.
macron, frpol
@pettter
Why would you say that? He could hand over power much more effectively and easily by actually dealing with them directly rather than calling a surprise election.
The election is doubtless a loss for Macron, and largely his own fault, but this is simply because he called it without any plans or preparation. To me it looks more like he was so shocked by the EP results that he couldn't believe they reflected real sentiment and gambled he'd win in the real thing.
Looking at the end result, the parliament he got was even worse for Macron than what he started with, so whatever reasons he had they were clearly dumb ones.
macron, frpol
@tobychev He wanted RN to win and govern badly so he could win on nostalgia at the next election, gambling that a) there would be a 'next election' after the fascists grab power and b) the left would continue to be demonized in the press and internally divided.
macron, frpol
@pettter
That theory doesn't explain why he called the election just after the EP results: if he was _that_ calculating he would take the much safer option of waiting for some crisis closer to the normal election date so the RN would have less time to cause damage while in power.
For example the fall budget was expected to be very hard to pass, which would be an excellent excuse to call for new elections, and would give him more control over what the issues would be.
And letting the RN in is more likely to sully his reputation and have him thrown out of national politics forever than have him raised to the sky. Finally, Macron isn't able to run for president next election anyway (that's presumably Attal's job) so it is impossible for him personally to win.
