ANKARA

A French far-right figure on Tuesday criticized the president for "an administrative coup” ahead of the second round of snap parliamentary elections.

Emmanuel Macron announced the elections himself, but he is “doing everything today to counter the democratic process,” former president of National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen told broadcaster France Inter.

Macron held a council of ministers meeting last Wednesday ahead of the first round of elections on June 30 and nominated several new high-ranking officials, including the military governor of Paris, the chief of staff of the French air force, the director of European Union affairs in the Foreign Ministry, and three new ambassadors, according to daily Le Monde.

Macron is thus seeking ways to prevent the RN from governing, and his actions will determine the pace of politics if current RN President Jordan Bardella comes to power with a majority in parliament, Le Pen added.

She said the president, “according to rumors,” is planning to nominate new high-ranking officials “whose aim would be to prevent Bardella from governing the country as he likes.”

“This is a form of administrative coup,” Le Pen slammed.

Presidency calls for ‘cold blood, restraint’

The French Presidency Elysee Palace in a statement to daily Le Figaro said, “Being responsible implies cold blood and restraint.”

Elysee recalled that nominations were made every week, particularly during the summer, regardless of the political cycles that the institutions go through.

Macron dissolved parliament and called early elections after the RN won more than 31% of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc.

The RN got 29.5% of the vote by itself in the first round on June 30 -- a rate that rises over 33% when combined with its allies -- according to official results released by the Interior Ministry.

The party alone got more than 9.37 million votes, which gives the party 37 seats in parliament.

The left-wing alliance New Popular Front received 27.99% (over 8.9 million votes) and came in second with 32 seats.

The centrist Together for the Republic alliance backed by Macron finished third with slightly over 20.04% (more than 6.4 million votes), securing only two seats.