'We are ready': Far-right leader Jordan Bardella confident of winning elections & running France

Days ahead of the first round of French parliamentary elections, far-right leader Jordan Bardella has said he is ready to take the reins of the country.

Bardella of the National Rally (RN) is the favourite to become the Prime Minister of France. The right-wing bloc led by RN is projected to win the most seats in the elections and drive President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist coalition to a distant third.

At a press conference in which he set out his party’s election agenda, Bardella said the RN is the only party that can deliver what people want.

“The National Rally is today the only movement capable of implementing the aspirations clearly expressed by the French people in a reasonable manner. In three words: we are ready,” said Bardella, as per AFP.

France will have parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7. Macron called snap elections after dissolving the country’s parliament after a drubbing in the European parliamentary elections . In the European polls, RN polled more than double the votes of Macron’s coalition of five centrist parties.

Bardella sets tone for France’s far-right government

Bardella said that seven years of Macron’s presidential tenure —which he called “Macronism”— has weakened France.

Accusing Macron of failure, Bardella outlined how he intends to set France on the right path.

Bardella said that, if the RN is elected with a majority, he would implement an anti-immigration and law-and-order programme that would make it easier to deport foreigners convicted of crimes, according to AFP.

Bardella further said that his government would boost the purchasing power of people and restore law-and-order.

Bardella pitched his RN party as one that stands for law-and-order. He said the voters had a choice between his party’s patriotic and republican values and the antisemitism of the left.

Left comes together to face right-wing surge

Amid the surging far-right, the French left has come together under a new coalition named New Popular Front (NPF).

The NPF comprises the Socialists, Greens, Communists, and the far-left Unbowed parties.

As per The Guardian, the manifesto of the NPF comprises:

The Guardian reports that the NFP’s manifesto has the following promises:

• Hiking the minimum wage

• Freezing the price of essential goods and energy

• Reversing the rise in pension age from 64 to 60

• Raising taxes on income, property, wealth, and inheritance

As per opinion polls released so fa r, the far-right RN-led bloc is expected to be the largest. The NPF is projected to be second and Macron’s centrists are set to be a distant third.