President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s approval rating fell to the lowest level in three months, delivering a boost to Marine Le Pen\u2019s far-right National Rally party just two days before voting starts in France\u2019s legislative election. <\/p>\n
Support for Macron dropped six points to 36%, the worst showing since March, according to a Toluna-Harris Interactive poll for LCI TV published on Friday.<\/p>\n
Separate polls are putting National Rally on course to be the biggest group in the lower house of parliament, with Bloomberg\u2019s poll of polls projecting it will get 36.2% support in Sunday\u2019s vote. A left-wing alliance called the New Popular Front would get 28.3% while Macron\u2019s centrist group would get 20.4%.<\/p>\n
Macron dissolved the National Assembly earlier this month and called a snap vote after his group was trounced in European Parliament elections, a decision that initially led to the worst bond rout since the sovereign debt crisis and wiped almost $200 billion off the value of stocks.<\/p>\n
On Friday, France\u2019s 10-year bond yield rose as much as six basis points to 3.33%, it\u2019s highest level since November. <\/p>\n
France\u2019s two-round election makes seat predictions tricky. While polls have mostly indicated Le Pen\u2019s group would fall short of the 289 seats lawmakers needed to form an absolute majority, a survey of 2,004 adults by Elabe published Friday estimated it would get 260-295.<\/p>\n
Tensions are already emerging over who controls certain areas of policy after the election in the event National Rally finishes first, ushering in a power-sharing arrangement in government between two opposition parties. Macron and Le Pen have started exchanging barbs over who has the right to nominate officials to institutional positions in Brussels and who calls the shots on defense policy. <\/p>\n
The challenges of this arrangement \u2014 called cohabitation in France \u2014 were put in the spotlight on Friday. After French officials said Macron was pushing to obtain another mandate in the European Commission for Thierry Breton, Le Pen told Europe 1 radio that was wishful thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmmanuel Macron is projecting a victory he can\u2019t achieve,\u201d she said. \u201cSo there will be another government than the one we know, and it is the prime minister\u2019s prerogative to appoint the European commissioner. It\u2019s not the prerogative of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another area where the constitution isn\u2019t entirely clear is who handles defense. While the text says the president heads the army, and Le Pen has backed Macron\u2019s military funding law for 2024-2030, a National Rally majority could weigh on more recent decisions to help Ukraine, including through budget negotiations.<\/p>\n
Le Pen and party chief Jordan Bardella, who has said he would agree to be prime minister only after getting an absolute majority, have both said they support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. But contrary to Macron, they also said they would oppose sending troops and long-range weapons able to target deep strikes inside Russia.<\/p>\n
After Le Pen said the title of \u201carmy chief\u201d conferred to the president by the constitution was merely honorific, Macron\u2019s prime minister, Gabriel Attal, insisted the president is responsible for defense and warned of the fallout from confusion over national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cForeign powers are rubbing their hands, saying to themselves: \u2018look, there\u2019s going to be chaos at the top of the state and they won\u2019t agree with each other,\u2019\u201d he told BFM TV on Friday.<\/p>\n
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