Nearly two-thirds of French believe that the European Parliament elections were a personal failure for President Emmanuel Macron who involved himself in his party’s election campaign.
Macron’s La République En Marche! (LREM) finished second to the populist National Rally led by Marine Le Pen in the European Parliament elections, and 63 per cent of French say the result should be attributed to Macron, L’Express reports.
An even greater number of respondents to the Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting poll, 71 per cent, said that it was a mistake for the French president to have involved himself personally in the election in the first place and campaign against Le Pen’s National Rally, telling voters to “fight the populists”.
Following her party’s victory, Ms Le Pen demanded that Macron dissolve the French parliament and call for new national elections. “The trust we have been given by the French in designating us as the first party in France but especially as that of the future alternation is an immense honour,” Le Pen said after declaring victory Sunday.
Prior to the election, Le Pen called the EU election a referendum on the presidency of Macron, saying that he must resign if the LREM did not claim victory in the elections.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News Network after the election, Le Pen reiterated her call for Macron to resign saying: “But Macron has neither the honesty to do it, nor the panache to do it.”
“Once he engaged, it became his personal responsibility. He should take into consideration the results and call for elections,” she added.
Le Pen also revealed why she thought her party had triumphed over Macron, claiming that: “Macron, in the early stages of the campaign, presented himself as the leader of the European Union that the French people do not want anymore.”
The Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting poll also found that a majority of respondents wanted to see Macron at least reshuffle his cabinet with just under half agreeing that Prime Minister Édouard Philippe should be fired.