Macron likely to face first electoral setback

PARIS: Emmanuel Macron could suffer his first electoral setback in Senate elections yesterday that follow a sharp slide in the French leader’s approval ratings.

Macron enjoyed only the shortest of honeymoons after storming to power in May, with a series of communication and policy missteps blamed for a plunge in ratings to around 40 per cent.

While poor results in yesterday’s vote would do little to stop the 39-year-old centrist from governing, they could potentially complicate his plans to push through constitutional reforms.

Half of the seats in the upper house are up for grabs in the indirect election, in which only elected lawmakers can vote.

And while Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) party enjoyed a remarkable rise — it won a landslide in the lower house in June, just 14 months after he founded it — it has lost some momentum since.

“The En Marche hurricane has not been at Category Five for a long time,” said Philippe Raynaud, political science professor at Pantheon-Assas university, riffing on the storms that have been buffeting the Caribbean lately.

And three mass protests in a matter of weeks in Paris have drawn tens of thousands to the streets to demonstrate against Macron’s proposed labour reforms.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said last week the party was “not expecting a landslide”. AFP

AFP PIC A demonstrator holding a sign reading ‘Macron, president of rich people’ at a protest against the government’s labour reforms in Paris on Saturday.