French President Emmanuel Macron came under strong criticism on Tuesday for warning a far-right or hard-left win in snap polls could spark a "civil war", with his opponents urging him not to scare the public.
France is preparing to vote on Sunday in the country's most polarising ballot in decades. Macron called the parliamentary polls after the far-right National Rally scored a runaway victory in European Parliament elections earlier this month.
The election is shaping up as a showdown between the far-right RN and the left-wing New Popular Front, which is dominated by the hard-left France Unbowed.Macron warned on Monday that the programmes of the two "extremes" could spark a "civil war", accusing both the RN and France Unbowed of sowing tensions and dividing people.
Leaders of both left and right condemned his remarks.
Eric Ciotti, the leader of the conservative Republicans (LR), who sparked outrage among allies by personnaly agreeing an election pact with the RN, accused the French president of being irresponsible.
"This is a strategy of fear," he said, speaking on BFMTV-RMC.
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@CruelBuzzardRepublican2yrs2Y
He's purposely provoking another period of troubles, leading the cattle toward division... I'm confident those who already accepted that the system is rigged, and democracy is just an illusion, won't be fighting each others in the streets of Paris.
Macron provides us with another sickening example of "centrist" politics, which really only represents an extremely narrow and well-defined ideological range allied to the rich rulers of society. Everything outside of this pigeon hole is cast as a "deviation" and an "extreme."
because his goal is article 16 of the constitution... giving him full power so he can save the nation from the mess he has himself created...
It's true.
And he's been setting the stage for that Civil War for decades, him and his Centrist/Political Inactivists predecessors.
The insane part is that he, and he alone, decided on these elections, taking everyone by surprise. If he thought they might cause civil war, why do it?
Also it's regardless completely irresponsible for a President to say something like this, as it effectively legitimizes civil war as response to election results and risks a self-fulfilling prophecy.
An announcement of something he prepared long time before his decision to dissolve the assembly. His decisions seem to be prepared and imposed to him. Nothing is sudden with him. All is orchestrated. But not for the people’s interests …only to serve his masters .
Macron has basically threatened French voters that there'll be "civil war" if his neo-liberal establishment party doesn't win the election.
He is selling the idea that only centrist politicians like him can hold the country together. Of course they did everything to polarize the country and now they are offering themselves as the best option. Add a little bit of fear of the civil war and voila =reelection
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