Emmanuel Macron’s centrists are facing a disastrous first-round vote
Marine Le Pen’s party will be the main beneficiary
![A collage of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella with gilet jaunes protesters, the Arc de Triomphe and French and EU flags](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240629_EUD001.jpg)
Cradling his demi of beer with a tattooed arm, Jocelyn needs few words to sum up the upcoming French election: “It’s all about Macron”. In the small town of Châteaudun, in rural west-central France, he is sitting at a pavement café on the main square, shaded by plane trees, just days before the first round of French parliamentary elections on June 30th. An industrial-machine operator, Jocelyn has no doubt as to the way fellow voters will show their displeasure at the French president, Emmanuel Macron: by backing Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally (RN). The RN, he says, “used to have an image as a racist and fascist party, but not any more.”
Home to some 13,000 inhabitants, Châteaudun is as close as France gets to a town that reflects the country. Its outskirts are approached via a drive-in McDonald’s and a “Buffalo Grill” steakhouse; its town centre is a handsome mix of medieval and renaissance architecture. On the main square, with its ornate centrepiece fountain, a Turkish kebab shop nestles between a hairdresser’s and a pharmacy. At the past four presidential elections the town has voted in line with the nation, too. In 2022 58% of the townsfolk backed Mr Macron against Ms Le Pen, almost exactly the score the centrist secured countrywide. Then, at voting for the European Parliament on June 9th, the town swung the other way: 33% supported the RN, just a touch above the national average.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The centre collapses”
Europe June 29th 2024
- Emmanuel Macron’s centrists are facing a disastrous first-round vote
- European gangs are getting better at making their own illegal drugs
- Death and destruction in a Russian city
- Finland’s shrinking high schools are importing pupils from abroad
- Can António Costa make a success of the world’s hardest political gig?
More from Europe
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/media-assets/image/20240629_EUP508.jpg)
France heads to the polls in a critical parliamentary vote
Marine Le Pen’s hard-right party is expecting a massive surge
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/media-assets/image/20240629_EUP506.jpg)
European gangs are getting better at making their own illegal drugs
The faster the police crack down, the faster they adapt to new methods
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/media-assets/image/20240629_EUP505.jpg)
Finland’s shrinking high schools are importing pupils from abroad
And educating them at taxpayers’ expense