PARIS, July 2. /TASS/. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally faction in the French legislature, accused French President Emmanuel Macron of preparing an "administrative coup" by ordering last-minute reshuffles in government agencies in a bid to prevent the future opposition prime minister from running the country.
"When I read that the president is preparing to appoint a new national police chief tomorrow, that is, four days before the second round of elections, although he was supposed to stay until the end of the Olympic Games, as well as the director of the National Gendarmerie, dozens of prefects and a host of people whose aim will be to prevent Jordan Bardella from running the country as he wishes, I believe that this is a form of an administrative coup," she said on France Inter radio.
The politician expressed hope that this information is nothing more but rumors, but noted that even before the first round of elections, last Wednesday, "many more appointments were made than during usual cabinet meetings."
"If you dissolve parliament while saying that it should not bring your opponents to power, then you should not dissolve parliament at all," Le Pen stated.
Le Journal du Dimanche reported earlier that ahead of the early parliamentary elections, Macron is making major reshuffles in government agencies to limit the influence of Jordan Bardella, the leader of the right-wing opposition party National Rally, should he become prime minister.
The newspaper said Macron is looking to appoint the current commander of the gendarmerie corps in the Ile-de-France metropolitan area, General Xavier Ducet, as head of the Directorate General of the National Gendarmerie (DGGN), and the current head of the Interior Minister's cabinet, Alexander Burger, as head of the Directorate General of the National Police (DGPN). According to the newspaper, the president could also replace some prefects with his advisers.
Early election
France held the first round of early parliamentary elections on June 30. The right-wing National Rally party and its allies came in first with 33.15% of the vote. The left-wing alliance New Popular Front took the second place with 27.99% of the vote. The presidential Ensemble coalition scored 20.04%, according to final figures released by the country’s Interior Ministry.
On June 9, the French president dissolved the National Assembly following the defeat of his supporters in the European Parliament election. The lower house of parliament was last dissolved by President Jacques Chirac in 1997.