Le Pen pledges 'unity government' if party wins

PARIS

France's Marine Le Pen said on June 14 her far-right party could win forthcoming snap parliamentary elections and form a "national unity government" if it did.

"We have the possibility of winning these elections, of forming a national unity government.... We need to pull France out of the rut," the former presidential candidate from the National Rally (RN) party said.

"We will gather all French people – men and women of goodwill - who are aware of the catastrophic situation in our country," she said, adding it would be up to RN party leader Jordan Bardella to "choose his team" when the time came.

President Emmanuel Macron made the gamble of calling the two-round parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7 after the RN scored more than double that of his centrist alliance in European Parliament elections on Sunday.

Macron has long sought to keep the far right RN out of power.

Bardella, 28, took over from Le Pen as chairman of the RN in 2022.

In recent years, she has sought to rid the party of the racist and anti-Semitic imprint left by her father and party co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Le Pen is widely expected to run for a fourth time in the 2027 presidential election.