Monday briefing: French far-right appeared to be victorious
The far right seems to dominate the French elections
According to previous predictions, the Rassemblement National party has crushed its opponents in the first round of voting for the French National Assembly. This brings her long-taboo nationalist, anti-immigration policies to power.
Pollsters’ forecasts, which are usually reliable, indicated that the party would receive about 34 percent of the vote, far ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance Party and his allies, which received about 21 percent. A coalition of left-wing parties won about 29 percent of the vote, the forecasts showed.
The outcome of a two-round election, which will culminate in a runoff between the leading parties in each constituency on July 7, does not provide a precise prediction of the number of parliamentary seats each party will secure. But it now seems very likely that the National Rally will be the biggest force in the House of Commons, although not necessarily with an absolute majority.
For Macron, the result was a serious setback after he had gambled that his party’s stinging defeat to the National Rally in the recent European Parliament elections would not be repeated. His decision to hold the elections now, just weeks before the Paris Olympics, surprised many in France – not least his own prime minister, who was left in the dark.
What’s next: Macron called for “a large, clearly democratic and republican alliance” to win the second round of voting, but he has struggled to form stable coalitions.
Analysis: Both France and the US face nationalist forces that could undo their international commitments and push the world into uncharted territory.
Iranian elections go to a second round
Iranian voters used last Friday’s presidential elections to express their dissatisfaction with Iran’s system of clerical rule. They went to the polls in record numbers to push two candidates to the second round.
The final choice will be between a reformist former health minister, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, and an ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili. Neither won more than 50 percent of the vote, meaning a runoff on July 5 will be needed to determine who will tackle challenges such as Iran’s struggling economy and the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East.
What was striking during the campaign was how openly the candidates attacked the status quo, but the turnout reflected pessimism that a new president could bring about change: they must govern with the ultimate approval of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Here you can read more about the first candidates, and these are four conclusions from the elections.
Nigeria shaken by series of suicide attacks
A series of suicide bombings, all carried out by women and taking place at high-profile events such as a wedding and a funeral, killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in Nigeria on Saturday afternoon, local officials said.
The blasts resembled attacks by Boko Haram, whose fighters have killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria and displaced more than two million people in the region. Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped thousands of teenage girls, forced them into marriage and carried out suicide bombings on schools, markets, religious buildings and large gatherings.
As of yesterday afternoon, no group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
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During his years as president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte promised authorities immunity for killing drug users and traffickers. Police officers and vigilantes summarily executed tens of thousands of people.
In the two years since Duterte left office, there has been little legal reckoning with the wave of killings. Now many in the Philippines are hoping the International Criminal Court will take action against Duterte.
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Japan’s first same-sex reality dating show
On July 9, Netflix will debut Japan’s first same-sex reality dating series, “The Boyfriend,” which follows nine men living in a luxury beach house outside Tokyo. Japan lags behind other wealthy democracies on LGBTQ rights, and while public sentiment has shifted toward support for gay and transgender people, they still face discrimination and hate speech at times.
Dai Ota, the series’ executive producer, said he wanted to “portray same-sex relationships as they really are,” as opposed to the exaggerated, stereotypical gay characters often depicted on Japanese television.
The atmosphere is healthy and above all chaste. Sex is rarely discussed, and friendship and self-improvement play as prominent a role as romance. Whether the show will lead to wider acceptance of the LGBTQ community in Japan remains to be seen.
