French far right clobbers the center

Dissolving the Parliament, Macron calls snap elections.

Macron’s centrist party was clobbered by the far right today in the EU Parliament elections. The National Rally is projected to take 31.5 percent of the vote. Macron’s Renaissance party is only projected to take 15.2 percent. In the history of the Fifth Republic, the far right has never performed this well before.

(Hell of a time for an anti-NATO, pro-Putin party to find its sea legs.)

The results are not a huge surprise—the polls predicted it—but you’re never sure the polls are right until the results come in.

The real shocker is this: Macron dissolved the lower house of parliament and called a new election.