France national football team captain Kylian Mbappe urged voters to vote on Thursday after the results of the first round of French legislative elections, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party came out on top.
“More than ever, we have to go and vote. It’s really urgent. We can’t leave the country in the hands of these people. We’ve seen the results. It’s catastrophic,” said the striker, who is in Germany, where France will face Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 on Friday.
“We hope everyone mobilizes and votes for the good side,” added the star.
Although Mbappé did not mention RN during his response, he did resort to humor when he looked around for a journalist who wanted to ask another question. When the reporter told him where he was (“on the far left”), Mbappé smiled and joked: “Luckily, you’re not on the other side.”
Shortly before the first round, Real Madrid’s new player made an appeal to stop “the extremes”.
The Blues left Bad Lippspringe for Hamburg to play their quarter-final ✈️#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/37mQlJkstZ
— Team France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) July 4, 2024
Since their arrival in Germany, the French national team players have been frequently asked about the legislative elections and a possible victory for the far-right party at the end of the second round, which takes place on Sunday.
Marcus Thuram and Jules Koundé clearly called for RN to be faced, while midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni positioned himself “against the extremes”, as Mbappé had initially done.
The other ‘Bleus’ questioned on the subject were content to make appeals in favor of turning out to vote, while Adrien Rabiot distanced himself by considering that it is not right for the group to be “parasitized” by the issue of the legislative elections and that it would be “good” to leave it “a little aside” in this regard, before also asking his compatriots to vote, since “the future of the country is at stake”.
The president of the French Football Federation, Philippe Diallo, told AFP on Wednesday (3) that there were no “disagreements” with the national team players and that his organization guarantees “freedom of expression”, although he recalled the entity’s “duty of neutrality”.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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