PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he would not resign “whatever the result” of the upcoming French parliamentary elections.
Macron called the election on Sunday night, in response to a big win by the far-right National Rally in the European election, which has piled pressure on his administration.
“It’s not the National Rally that writes the Constitution nor the spirit of it,” he said in an interview with Le Figaro Magazine. “The institutions are clear, and so is the place of the president, whatever the result.”
Macron was answering a question on whether he would be ready to resign if the National Rally wins the parliamentary election and urges him to leave. It also intersected with swirling rumors which began circulating on Tuesday that he was considering resigning, triggering a denial from the Elysée.
Instead, Macron said that he would take part directly in the electoral campaign and warned against assuming that the National Rally’s result at the European election would be replicated in the parliamentary election, which has a different voting system.
France will go to the polls for the parliamentary election first round on June 30, with a second round to follow on July 7.
“Politics is dynamic. I’ve never believed in polls. The decision I have taken opens a new era. A new campaign begins, and we should look at the scores for each constituency in the light of those for the European elections,” Macron added.
Macron will start campaigning with a press conference in a Parisian hotel on Wednesday, an event initially planned for Tuesday.
But not everyone is happy to see the French president campaigning directly. In private, several MPs from Macron’s camp see his direct involvement in the campaign as a bad news, rather than a boost, POLITICO’S Playbook Paris reported Tuesday.
France’s simmering political crisis, the rise of the far right and the decision to call the snap vote have also sparked fears on the markets, with credit agencies and experts warning that political instability and a possible National Rally victory will undermine French efforts to cut public debt, which is at a worrying level.
This story has been updated.
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