The Japan Times - Macron urges anti-extremist alliance ahead of French polls

Macron was speaking at a rare domestic news conference three days after the far right upended his presidency and spurred him to call risky early elections by recording more than double the score of his ruling party in European elections.

A landmark realignment of French politics now appears to be in progress, with the leader of the main right-wing party backing an alliance with the far right and triggering internecine warfare within his own faction.

With little chance of overtaking the far-right National Rally (RN) in the campaign for the two-round election on June 30 and July 7, Macron's best chance appears to be to build a broad-based centrist coalition appealing to the moderate left and right.

"I hope that when the time comes, men and women of goodwill who will have been able to say no to the extremes will come together... will put themselves in a position to build a shared, sincere project that is useful to the country," Macron told journalists.

"The answer, in my eyes, could not come through changing the government or a coalition... dissolving parliament was necessary," Macron said.

- 'Respond to their anger' -

Macron, who must stand down in 2027 after serving the maximum two terms, said one reason he had called the snap polls was to prevent the RN under Marine Le Pen winning the presidency in 2027.

"I do not want to give the keys to power to the far right in 2027," he told reporters.

"I fully take responsibility for starting this process of clarification" with the snap election call.

Counting the RN, other far-right parties and the hard left, he said that some 50 percent of the French had voted for "extremes" in the European elections.

"You can't tell them (the French): 'We're continuing as if nothing had happened'. That's not respecting them, that's not listening to them," he said.

"I want there to be a government that can act to respond to their anger, to their urgent demands", he said.

He acknowledged voters' "difficulty getting by even when they're working, very everyday difficulties" that had created "anger, sometimes resentment".

People "feel that they aren't listened to or respected... We can't remain indifferent to all these messages," he added.

- 'Pact with devil' -

But he also lashed out at conservative Republicans (LR), whose leader Eric Ciotti on Tuesday announced an alliance with the RN, as well as a left-wing alliance including the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI).

The right had "in a few hours turned its back on the legacy of General (Charles) de Gaulle" as well as former presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, he said.

Ciotti had sealed a "pact with the devil", Macron said.

Senior LR figures, including upper house Senate speaker Gerard Larcher, have called on Ciotti to step down and the party is due to hold an emergency meeting later Wednesday, which Ciotti has said he will not attend.

At the same time, mainstream left parties have allied with an LFI that Macron accused of "anti-Semitism" over its response to Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel and the war in Gaza.

Voters had a choice between "unholy alliances at the two extremes who agree on almost nothing except handing out jobs" versus his own bloc with "a single vision of the country" both at home and abroad.

"We aren't perfect... but we've got results," he insisted, pointing to job creation, the energy transition and backing for Ukraine as high points.

The RN is "ambiguous" about Russia and aims to "leave NATO", the president charged.

The LFI meanwhile had "impossible views both towards Ukraine and towards the Middle East" -- where allies have criticised its response to the Hamas attack on Israel, he added.

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T.Shimizu--JT