MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. The outcome of the French legislative election will not lead to Paris doing a U-turn in its policy toward Moscow, but underdog allied right-wing parties led by Marine Le Pen could somewhat scale down the anti-Russian rhetoric if they secure victory, Andrey Bystritsky, board chairman of the Foundation for the Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, told TASS.
The analyst said French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition coming in third was the result of "the deep disappointment on the part of the French society with respect to the current government and Macron, in particular." Also, he said, Le Pen is "very popular among the French." However, the expert said, it is too early to make conclusions ahead of the second round as none of the potential outcomes will bring any noticeable change in the stance toward Russia in the short term.
"The situation is critical," he continued, saying that the results of the election were vulnerable to some clever spin-doctoring. "In the event of an unlikely scenario of the right-wing parties collecting a majority of the vote, this could have an effect on the [country’s] stance on Russia, albeit not immediately or noticeably," he argued.
However, "there will be no U-turn any time soon," Bystritsky concluded.
France’s snap election
France’s far-right National Rally and allied right-wing parties won the first round of a legislative election on Sunday with 33.15% of the vote. The New Popular Front, a left-wing alliance of parties, came in second with 27.99%, while the president’s centrist coalition scored 20.04%, the final results released by the republic’s Interior Ministry show.
On June 9, Macron announced his decision to dissolve the National Assembly and organize early parliamentary elections following the crushing defeat of the presidential Renaissance Party at the elections to the European Parliament. The last time the lower house was dissolved was in 1997 by President Jacques Chirac.