France's premier vowed on Tuesday to do everything to avoid "the worst" outcome in snap legislative elections called by President Emmanuel Macron in a risky effort to combat the rise of the far right.
Macron called the election after the far-right national Rally (RN) polled more than double the number of votes of his centrist alliance led by Renaissance in the European elections.
"I will fulfil my duty as a citizen devoted to his country who will do everything to avoid the worst", Prime Minister Gabriel Attal told ruling party MPs in a closed-door meeting, according to aides, saying the far right was "at the gates of power" in France.
The premier had been kept out of initial discussions about the possibility of calling snap elections in the wake of this weekend's European polls and warned Macron of the risks when he was finally informed, according to reports in French media including the Le Monde daily.
Attal, 35, appointed earlier this year as France's youngest prime minister and usually ubiquitous across media, had on Monday been conspicuously absent from the airwaves after the election was called.
"I will fulfil my duty as prime minister to act in the service of the French people until the last minute," he told the ruling Renaissance party MPs in the meeting.
But in a sign of his disquiet with the move, he acknowledged that the election decision was "sudden" and "brutal" for MPs who would now have to campaign only two years after the last election in 2022.
This election "has more dramatic and historic stakes than that of 2022" because "the extreme right is at the gates of power", he said.
French PM vows to 'do everything' to 'avoid the worst' in snap polls
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