PARIS: French far-right leader Marine le Pen insisted Thursday her party can still win control of parliament despite the center and left scrambling to block her way and football hero Kilian Mbappe urging fans to outvote “those people.”
Three days before Sunday’s run-off in France’s most critical legislative elections in recent history, a poll projected Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of an overall majority despite dominating the June 30 first round vote.
Tensions are growing as the clock ticks down to Sunday, with assaults reported on candidates and the outcome will determine if postwar France elects its first far-right government since World War II, or embarks on an era of potentially paralysing coalition politics.
France’s iconic football captain, striker Kylian Mbappe, addressed the race at a news conference in Hamburg ahead of the team’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Portugal, warning: “We can’t leave our country in the hands of those people there.
“I think we all saw the results, it’s catastrophic,” he said of the RN’s first round victory. “We hope that that will change and that everyone will mobilize to vote, and to vote for the right side.”
Mbappe’s intervention will encourage both the centrist camp, led by President Emmanuel Macron, and the broad-left wing coalition who have between them withdrawn more than 200 candidates from the runoff on Sunday in a joint effort to ensure the far right is defeated.
“I think there is still the capacity to have an absolute majority, with the electorate turning out in a final effort to get what they want,” the RN’s three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen told BFM television.
“I say turn out to vote as it’s a really important moment to get a change in politics in all the areas that are making you suffer right now,” she said.
If the RN wins an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, it would be able to form a government with Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege Jordan Bardella as prime minister.
But she acknowledged that Macron’s centrists and the New Popular Front (NFP) coalition had made her party’s task tougher with their “operation” to withdraw candidates to unite the anti-RN vote.
The move has sparked speculation that a right-center-left coalition could emerge after the election to prevent the RN from taking power.
Le Pen alleges that the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) could figure in such a coalition, an idea dismissed by Macron.
Le Pen, who is expected to make a fourth attempt to win the Elysee Palace in 2027, acknowledged that there had been problems with a handful of RN candidates, one of whom had to withdraw after a picture of her emerged wearing a Nazi-era Luftwaffe cap.
“There are statements that have been inadmissible and will involve sanctions and there are also statements that are just clumsy,” Le Pen said.
Four people, including three minors, were detained after government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot and her team were attacked while they were sticking up campaign posters in Meudon outside Paris, prosecutors said.
Thevenot, who is of Mauritian origin, was not harmed but a colleague and a supporter were wounded and taken to hospital after the attack by around 20 people.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our society,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X.
Of the 30,000 police to be deployed nationwide Sunday, 5,000 would be on duty in Paris so that the “far left and far right do not create disorder,” Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said.
Macron’s decision to call snap elections three years ahead of schedule after his party’s drubbing in EU Parliament elections is seen as a huge gamble that could plunge France into chaos weeks before it hosts the Olympics and at a time when Paris is playing a key role in backing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
A poll by Harris Interactive projected that the RN and its allies would win 190 to 220 seats in the National Assembly, the NFP 159 to 183 seats and Macron’s Ensemble (Together) alliance 110 to 135.
French far right says power within grasp as Mbappe warns of disaster
https://arab.news/yjxva
French far right says power within grasp as Mbappe warns of disaster
- A poll projected Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would fall short of an overall majority despite dominating the June 30 first round vote
- France’s iconic football captain, striker Kylian Mbappe, warned: “We can’t leave our country in the hands of those people there”
Delhi ‘plant cafe’ offers residents respite from toxic smog
- Air Quality Index in the capital regularly hovers above 300, which is considered dangerous
- Residents are increasingly considering air pollution levels before venturing outside
NEW DELHI: As air pollution hovers around dangerous levels across New Delhi, a small cafe is becoming increasingly popular among residents of the Indian capital, offering respite from the constant toxic smog that threatens public health.
At Planterie, described by its owner as plant studio, rows of plants line both the floor and shelves as dozens of pots with spilling foliage hang by the window, resembling a lush greenhouse.
The cafe has gained traction online over the past month, after visitors posted clips of monitors showing comparatively better air quality inside.
On Wednesday, the Air Quality Index, or AQI, inside the cafe stood at about 30, a stark contrast to the levels outdoors, which hit above 300 across the capital.
On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.
“This is one of a kind in Delhi … I’m sure you can feel the difference once you come in … (plants) make such a difference,” Sureika Narain, a walking tour guide and a regular at the cafe, told Arab News.
“I’ve grown up in Delhi. I’ve seen the pollution become worse and worse, but somehow I’m able to cope with it through the yogas, pranayama (breathing technique), whatever we do in life, and we find places like this that we carry on in life … this kind of place in Delhi is very important.”
Delhi has not recorded a single “clean air” day in 2025, with Air Quality Index readings hitting high above the 50 score throughout the year.
Its residents have staged at least four protests since October, demanding more government action to address air pollution.
The pollution levels also get worse as winter descends, when Delhi’s air further thickens into an opaque, toxic smog, triggering headaches, itchy eyes and burning throats among the public.
“During the winter season, pollution goes very high and people become more and more conscious. And people do find it, like if you come in here, immediately you feel a little bit of calmness, because all the plants and the air is very clean inside,” Farial Sabrina, co-owner of Planterie, told Arab News.
Since opening in 2021, she said some of her customers would commute at least 45 minutes just to visit the cafe, which offers a limited menu and can only accommodate about 20 people at a time.
“I feel grateful and sometimes overwhelmed with the response that people have given. People do come up to us and really thank us for existing,” Sabrina said.
“If you’re living in a big city, we want everything best, but air is a basic right.”
To limit exposure to toxic air, Delhi residents are increasingly choosing to stay at home, where air purifiers are at least keeping them safe.
As many start to consider AQI levels before going outside, places like Planterie are becoming a chosen alternative.
“I try to avoid going outside and the high AQI at the moment, so I mostly stay indoors with the air filter on,” Mona, a Planterie customer, told Arab News.
“The motivation to come here was basically to leave the house in the high AQI and, you know, find a place where the air quality is a little better.”
The same was true for Laura Supprin, a German living in the city.
“This is like a nice combination: good coffee, cute interior, some nice coffees or teas, and also lower AQI. So, it was a win-win,” she said.
“If you’re outside for too long, you, like, get a headache and don’t feel really great. So, having a place like this is good.”
