As predictions suggested that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally will win the next legislative elections, thousands of women demonstrated against the party on Sunday in French towns.
The marches were organized by almost 200 unions and organizations that support women’s rights. They took place in dozens of locations, including Paris, and they said that when far-right parties rule a country, their rights are violated. More than 10,000 women peacefully protested in Paris, according to the organizers.
France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to an abortion in its constitution in March, but the opposition of certain RN MPs to the measure caused some members of the public to express reservations about the party’s stance on women’s rights.
As she participated in the Paris protest on Sunday, Shirley Wirden, the French Communist Party’s officer in charge of women’s rights, remarked, “We could well observe how the far-right deputies were very uncomfortable with the subject, they were calling for filling the cribs with French babies.”
According to a survey released on Sunday, the National Rally (RN) party and its allies are predicted to win 35.5% of the vote in the first round of the French legislative elections, which are scheduled for June 30.
In the June 19–20 Ipsos survey, which was done for Le Parisien newspaper and Radio France, the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) alliance received 29.5% of the vote, placing them in second place. With 19.5% of the vote, the centrist coalition led by President Emmanuel Macron was ranked third.
After the National Rally won last month’s European Union elections with around 32% of the vote, handily defeating Macron’s centrist alliance with 15% of the vote, Macron announced the early parliamentary election. In comparison to the 2019 EU elections, the RN gained 10 points more female votes, or 30% of the total.
