![French parties in final push for votes ahead of crunch poll](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/43/f3/17/French-parties-in-final-push-for-vo-753587.jpg)
-
Wolves' Kilman reunites with Lopetegui at West Ham
-
Schmidt reign off to winning start as Australia beat Wales 25-16
-
Russian wrestlers reject Olympics invitation
-
Raducanu rediscovers Wimbledon 'fun' factor after turbulent spell
-
Winning all that matters at Euro 2024 for Mbappe's minimalist France
-
Eight dead, two million affected by Bangladesh floods
-
Robertson pleased to 'find a way' past England in tough Test baptism
-
Martin sets lap record to secure German MotoGP pole
-
'Shattered' Germany set sights on World Cup after Euros exit
-
Olympic hope Pedersen pulls out of Tour de France
-
Djokovic eyes sweet 16 at Wimbledon as Swiatek takes on 'gangster'
-
End beckons again for Ronaldo after Portugal Euros KO
-
New Zealand edge England 16-15 in tense, brutal first Test
-
Turkey take on Dutch in politically charged Euros quarter-final, England face Swiss
-
Calling for better ties with West, Iran reformist wins presidency
-
Cybercrime groups restructuring after major takedowns: experts
-
Activists hail Sierra Leone child marriage ban, urge action on FGM
-
Marsch relishing Canada's semi clash with Argentina
-
Canada stun Venezuela on penalties to reach Copa semis
-
Iran reformist Pezeshkian holds early lead in runoff vote
-
Swiatek faces 'gangster' threat, Djokovic feels need for Wimbledon speed
-
France holds its breath ahead of uncertain vote
-
Starmer begins UK 'rebuild' after landslide election win
-
Paris's Moulin Rouge inaugurates new windmill sails ahead of Olympics
-
Pan, Rai share halfway lead in PGA John Deere Classic
-
'I was feeling terrible' in debate, Biden says in TV interview
-
France coach Deschamps savours ending penalty hoodoo, defends Mbappe
-
Thompson bids farewell to Warriors after exit
-
Portugal exit Euros with pride, will return stronger: Martinez
-
UK's new PM Starmer speaks to world leaders, names top team
-
Spain and France to face off in Euros last four, Turkey lament 'unfair' Demiral ban
-
Israel says negotiators to hold fresh Gaza truce talks next week
-
France beat Portugal on penalties to reach Euro 2024 semi-finals
-
Endrick to start for Brazil in Uruguay Copa clash: Dorival
-
Heartbreak for Germany fans after dramatic Euros exit
-
Beryl heads for Texas after causing damage, no deaths in Mexico
-
Nagelsmann laments late penalty decision as hosts Germany exit Euros
-
Biden declares he's all in ahead of high-risk TV interview
-
Spain team 'is a winning horse', says De la Fuente
-
Bows at the ready, Chad villagers battle kidnappings
-
Alcaraz mimics Bellingham goal celebration after Wimbledon win
-
Olmo hopes Pedri can make speedy return for Euros semi-finalists Spain
-
Retiring Kroos hopeful despite Germany's 'bitter' Euros exit
-
Southgate turns on English 'entitlement' over claims of easy Euros draw
-
Merino extra-time goal sends Spain past Germany to Euro semis
-
Koeman demands Dutch silence fervent Turkish fans at Euros
-
Brad Pitt at Silverstone for filming of F1 movie
-
Raducanu storms into Wimbledon last 16
-
California fires spread in July 4 weekend heatwave
-
Alcaraz wins five-set Wimbledon thriller as Gauff eases through
![French parties in final push for votes ahead of crunch poll](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/43/f3/17/French-parties-in-final-push-for-vo-753587.jpg)
French parties in final push for votes ahead of crunch poll
France's political forces were on Friday to make a final bid for votes in crunch legislative elections that could see the far right take control of the government in a historic first.
The official campaigning period will end at midnight followed by a day off on Saturday, during which political activity is forbidden ahead of voting Sunday. Another week of campaigning will then lead up to the decisive second round on July 7.
The far-right National Rally (RN) is tipped to win the election, potentially giving the party the post of prime minister for the first time in its history in a tense "cohabitation" with centrist President Emmanuel Macron.
Opinion polls suggest his centrist alliance will come only third behind the RN and a broad but fragile left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP).
The RN party chief, Jordan Bardella, 28, would have a chance to lead a government as prime minister.
But he has insisted he would do so only if his party wins an absolute majority of the 577 seats in the National Assembly after the second round.
Friends and foes of Macron alike are still scratching their heads over why the president dissolved the lower house of parliament and called new elections in the aftermath of his party's heavy defeat in this month's EU Parliament vote.
- 'Serious message' -
The RN's three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen had ratcheted up tensions ahead of the polls by telling the regional Telegramme daily that the president's title as commander in chief of the armed forces was "honorific, because it's the prime minister who holds the purse strings".
In a televised debate late Thursday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that Le Pen had sent a "clear message" by indicating that if the RN wins the election "there will be a kind of dispute between the prime minister and president over who is commander-in-chief of the army".
"It is a very serious message for the security of France," he said.
But Bardella said in the debate he would "not let Russian imperialism absorb an allied state like Ukraine".
He said he was also opposed to sending longer range missiles to Ukraine that could hit Russian territory "and place France and the French in a situation of co-belligerence".
"My compass is the interest of France and the French," said Bardella.
Macron has insisted he will serve out the remainder of his second term until it expires in 2027, no matter which party emerges on top in the coming legislative contest.
Le Pen, whom opponents have long accused of having too cosy a relationship with the Kremlin, scents that this could be her best-ever chance to win the Elysee Palace after three previous attempts.
- 'Real fear' -
When he called the snap vote after a June 9 European Parliament election drubbing by the RN, Macron had hoped to present voters with a stark choice about whether to hand France to the far right.
An Ipsos poll published in Le Monde predicted the RN would win 36 percent of the vote, the NFP 29 percent and Macron's alliance just 19.5 percent.
"It (the RN) can not only envisage a relative majority, but we cannot exclude, far from it, an absolute majority," Brice Teinturier, deputy director of Ipsos, told AFP.
The televised debate, where Attal and Bardella were joined by Socialist leader Olivier Faure, was equally ill-tempered as the first such session on Tuesday.
"Whenever you are in difficulty you change the subject," Attal told Bardella. "He is tense this evening, is Mr Attal," said Bardella.
Attal charged that 100 RN candidates standing in the election had made "racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic comments."
"Everything is false, utterly false," responded Bardella, who also defended a controversial proposal to bar dual nationals from sensitive state posts.
Underscoring the stakes felt by many in France from ethnic minority backgrounds, French basketball superstar Victor Wembanyama said "for me it is important to take a distance from extremes, which are not the direction to take for a country like ours".
Acclaimed black French filmmaker Alice Diop meanwhile told the Liberation newspaper that having the far right in government would be "not only a moral discomfort but a real fear".
X.Matos--PC