MARSEILLE, France (CN) — On Wednesday, Raphaël Glucksmann — a French left-wing politician and member of the European Parliament — emerged from behind a pizza truck onto the Place Claire in Saint-Barnabé, a neighborhood in Marseille, in a suit. He stopped on the square and asked the crowd to picture a scenario with the right wing in charge.
“Bardella as prime minister, Maréchal as minister of education, Ciotti as interior minister,” Glucksmann said, citing some of France’s leading far-right politicians. “On July 7, we need to ensure that what has never happened in the history of this country doesn't happen.”
The French right's Jordan Bardella of the National Rally, or RN; Marion Maréchal of Reconquer!; and Eric Ciotti of The Republicans, or LR, have never been closer to power. In the European Elections on June 9, the far right dominated the country’s other political parties, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve France’s government and call for snap elections for the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly.
The stakes couldn’t be higher in the two rounds of voting on June 30 and July 7. If the RN wins an absolute majority, they’ll be fully in control of the country's domestic agenda for the first time in history.
Polls show the right poised to take about 30% of the vote, with the left earning between 22-29%, and Macron's group garnering about 18%.
The New Popular Front, France’s freshly formed left-wing coalition uniting the Socialists, Greens, Communists and France Unbowed — known as LFI, is fighting to edge out the right. In Marseille, Glucksmann’s message was clear: The number one priority is keeping the far-right RN out of power. The details of the New Popular Front’s political mandate are secondary.
“France is about to topple into something we’ve never seen before,” Glucksmann said on the Place Claire. “The RN are at the gates of power, and we will do everything to close these gates.”
Glucksmann's discourse focused almost exclusively on the RN. In 1972, Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the extreme-right party — then called the National Front, which faced controversy for decades for its xenophobic policies and rhetoric. When Marine Le Pen, his daughter, succeeded him in 2011, she struggled to detach the party from the family name. In recent years, Bardella has been credited with normalizing the party and helping boost its ranks.
After the "picture this" scenario — one Glucksmann has returned to on multiple occasions in recent days — he hammered on the need for collective action to prevent the right from taking the helm.
When challenged over aligning with the LFI — a far-left party that Glucksmann has openly criticized — his response was brief.
“It was a difficult decision and it wasn’t a marriage for love,” he said. “It was tactical.”
Glucksmann said Macron’s decision to call snap elections was irresponsible. Early polls show the president's coalition running third.
“On the night of June 9, Macronism died,” Glucksmann said. “Macron lost all legitimacy to run the National Assembly.”
Then Glucksmann and Pascaline Lecorché, the local parliamentary candidate he came to support, were on the move. They walked up the Rue Montaigne past an organic bakery, butcher shops and hair salons to hand out pamphlets. They stopped a man coming out of his apartment building and people running errands on the street, before moving through a shopping complex and entering a local bookstore. Reporters crowded in between the shelves as Glucksmann and Lecorché urged the shopkeeper to vote.
Not everyone welcomed the pair with open arms. Outside of the local Carrefour, one of France’s biggest supermarket chains, a man holding a long receipt approached Glucksmann.
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