13 June 2024

Under siege, 3 world leaders say: Bring it on

JOHN F. HARRIS and ALEXANDER BURNS

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this spring saw himself buffeted and thrown on the defensive by the unruly and impatient politics of his country. Facing an increasingly dire political future, he made a decision to call for parliamentary elections on July 4.

In the United States, President Joe Biden was facing his own unfavorable politics and had a similarly urgent need to shake up his race against former President Donald Trump. The result is the earliest-ever general election debate, scheduled for June 27.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday night found himself humiliated in European Parliament elections by the strong showing of Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally party. In a sudden move that shocked Paris and is echoing Monday across the Continent, he decided to call for a snap election in the French Parliament, summoning voters to the polls across two days on June 30 and July 7.

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