A left-wing alliance is projected to win the most seats in the French parliament after tactical voting in Sunday\u2019s second round election thwarted Marine Le Pen\u2019s far-right party, but France may be left in limbo after no party won an absolute majority. <\/p>\n
In a surprise result, the New Popular Front (NFP) \u2013 a cluster of five parties ranging from the far-left France Unbowed party to the more moderate Socialists and the Ecologists \u2013 was projected to win between 171 and 187 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest party, but falling short of the 289 seats required to form an absolute majority. <\/p>\n
President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s centrist Ensemble alliance, which had slumped to a dismal third in the first round of voting last Sunday, has since recovered strongly and is projected to win between 152 and 163 seats. Despite leading after the first round of votes, the far-right National Rally (RN) was projected to win between 134 and 152 seats. <\/p>\n
The RN\u2019s strong showing in the first round stirred fears that France could be on the cusp of electing its first far-right government since the collaborationist Vichy regime of World War II. But Sunday\u2019s projection comes as a huge upset and shows French voters\u2019 overwhelming desire to keep the far right from gaining power \u2013 even at the cost of political gridlock, with no party projected to reach a majority. <\/p>\n
After the first round, an unprecedented number of seats \u2013 over 300 \u2013 went to a three-way runoff between Ensemble, the NFP and the RN. By Tuesday, more than 200 centrist and left-wing candidates withdrew from the second round, in a bid to avoid splitting the vote. <\/p>\n
Cheers rang out on the streets of Paris as the projection was published. Speaking to a crowd of his ecstatic supporters at Stalingrad square, Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon, the firebrand leader of France Unbowed, said the results came as a \u201chuge relief for the overwhelming majority of people in our country.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOur people have clearly rejected the worst-case scenario,\u201d M\u00e9lenchon said. \u201cA magnificent surge of civic mobilization has taken hold!\u201d <\/p>\n
Gabriel Attal, Macron\u2019s protege, announced he would resign as prime minister Monday morning. He seemed to take a swipe at Macron\u2019s decision to call the snap vote, saying he \u201cdidn\u2019t choose\u201d for France\u2019s parliament to be dissolved. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere in Paris, the buoyant atmosphere at a RN campaign event in Bois de Vincennes took a nosedive an hour before the polls closed. After the projection was announced, Jordan Bardella, the party\u2019s 28-year-old leader, said France had been thrown into \u201cuncertainty and instability.\u201d <\/p>\n
Handpicked as leader by Marine Le Pen in an effort to purge the party of its racist and antisemitic roots, Bardella had taken the party closer to the gates of power than ever before. Visibly disappointed by the results, he slammed the NFP as an \u201calliance of dishonor.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAs from tomorrow, our deputies will take up their places to make sure we counter the migration policies and other policies of the far left. We will not enter into any kind of coalition or compromise, we will be the side of the French people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
In a brief statement, the Elysee said Macron is awaiting the full results of all 577 constituencies \u201cbefore taking the necessary decisions.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIn his role as guarantor of our institutions, the president will ensure that the sovereign choice of the French people is respected,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
After parliamentary elections, the French president appoints a prime minister from the party that won the most votes. Ordinarily, this means a candidate from the president\u2019s own party. However, if Sunday\u2019s projection is confirmed, Macron faces the prospect of having to appoint a figure from the left-wing coalition, in a rare arrangement known as a \u201ccohabitation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking to supporters at Stalingrad square, M\u00e9lenchon said Macron \u201chas the duty to call the New Popular Front to govern.\u201d <\/p>\n
But it is not clear from which party within the coalition that Macron will appoint a prime minister. France Unbowed was projected to win up to 75 seats, which would make it the largest single party within the NFP, ahead of the Socialists with as many as 65 seats. <\/p>\n
But Macron and his allies had repeatedly stressed that they would refuse to enter into coalition with M\u00e9lenchon. Speaking after last Sunday\u2019s first round, outgoing Prime Minister Gabriel Attal \u2013 Macron\u2019s protege, said France Unbowed was preventing the formation of a \u201ccredible alternative\u201d to the far right. <\/p>\n
The NFP formed less than a month ago, after Macron called the snap vote following his party\u2019s disastrous loss to the RN in last month\u2019s European Parliament election. <\/p>\n
The capacious \u2013 and potentially fractious \u2013 coalition chose its name in an attempt to resurrect the original Popular Front that blocked the far right from gaining power in 1936. If Sunday\u2019s projection is confirmed, the NFP will have achieved this aim. <\/p>\n
It campaigned on a platform to raise the minimum monthly wage to 1,600 euros (more than $1,700), to cap the price of essential foods, electricity, fuel and gas, and to scrap Macron\u2019s deeply unpopular pension reform, which raised the French retirement age \u2013 already one of the lowest in the Western world \u2013 from 62 to 64. <\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s vote represents a victory for the French \u201ccordon sanitaire,\u201d the principle that left-wing and centrist parties must unite to block the far right from taking office. <\/p>\n
But the RN\u2019s success should not be underestimated. In the 2017 elections, when Macron swept to power, the RN won just eight seats. In 2022, it surged to 89 seats. In Sunday\u2019s vote, it is projected to win as many as 152 seats. <\/p>\n
While the risk of a far-right government has been avoided for now, these elections have plunged France into political uncertainty. Macron called the election three years earlier than necessary, just minutes after his party was trounced by the far right in the EU election. <\/p>\n
Although EU election results need have no bearing on domestic politics, Macron said he could not ignore the message sent to him by voters and wanted to clarify the situation. <\/p>\n
But Sunday\u2019s results look set to further muddy the French political picture. Unable to call a new election for at least another year, and with three years left on his presidential term, Macron looks set to preside over an unruly parliament, as problems mount at home and abroad. <\/p>\n
\u00c9douard Philippe, France\u2019s former prime minister and an ally of Macron, said Macron\u2019s gamble had further complicated the situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is that none of the political blocs in the assembly has a majority on its own to govern. The dissolution of the assembly, which was intended as a clarification, has instead led to great vagueness,\u201d he said Sunday evening. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe central political forces therefore have a responsibility to stay. They must, without compromise, promote the creation of an agreement that will stabilize the political situation.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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