Following Sunday’s election, the socialist New Popular Front (NFP) took the lead in the National Assembly. However, since no one party was able to secure a functional majority, the NFP may form a minority administration or form a large, cumbersome coalition.
Just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympic Games, the outcome dealt a severe blow to President Emmanuel Macron and throws the second-biggest economy in the euro zone into disarray.
Macron was left with a severely divided parliament, which will impede the advancement of any domestic agenda and erode France’s standing in the EU and beyond.
According to interior ministry data quoted by the newspaper Le Monde, the left gained 182 seats, Macron’s centrist alliance 168, and Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and allies 143.
Leader of the Green Party Marine Tondelier, one of several NFP officials viewed as possible candidates for the position, stated, “Emmanuel Macron should today officially invite the New Popular Front to nominate a prime minister, according to the logic of our institutions.”
“Is he going to or not? We’ll see, as this president never ceases to surprise us,” she stated on RTL radio.
Given the difficult process of forming a cabinet, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that he would present his resignation, but it was unclear if the president would accept it right once. Attal stated that he would be open to continuing in his job as caregiver.
It was evident that Macron’s alliance had suffered a humiliating defeat. “I will of course do my duties as long as it’s needed – it cannot be otherwise on the eve of a date (the Olympics) that is so important for our country,” Attal declared.
VERY SEPARATE
The French Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Greens, and the hard-left France Unbowed formed the NFP. The parties got together over night to discuss the initial steps forward.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the fiery leader of France Unbowed, stated that the NFP should produce the next prime minister. But the bloc lacks a leader, and the parties inside it cannot agree on a good candidate to become prime minister.
Prominent centrists, such as former Macron prime minister Edouard Philippe, stated they were willing to collaborate on a deal to guarantee a stable government, but they were not willing to work with Melenchon’s France Unbowed, a movement that many French centrists view as equally radical as the RN.
Before the election, Yael Braun-Pivet, a lawmaker from Macron’s party and chairman of the National Assembly, predicted that French political culture would change, becoming less divisive and more cooperative between political parties.
“The message I’m hearing from the voters is ‘no one has an absolute majority, so you have to work together to find solutions to our problems’,”
Following the release of the vote projections on Sunday, the euro declined.
“When it comes to France’s legislative ability, there’s really going to be a vacuum,” stated Simon Harvey, London-based Monex Europe’s head of FX analysis.
COMMON ANTI-RN VOTING
The outcome was a vast cry from weeks in which surveys had repeatedly predicted a resounding victory for Le Pen’s RN.
Following last week’s first round of voting, the left and centrist alliances collaborated by removing a large number of candidates from three-way contests in order to create a cohesive anti-RN vote.
Le Pen’s protégé, RN leader Jordan Bardella, first expressed dismay at the cooperation of anti-RN groups, branding it a “disgraceful alliance” that he said would paralyze France.
Le Pen, who is expected to represent the party in the 2027 presidential contest, claimed that the results of Sunday’s vote, in which the RN significantly outperformed the opposition in comparison to past elections, had planted the seeds for future success.
“Our victory has been merely delayed,” she stated.
On Sunday night, as night fell, left-wing fans lit up the statue of Marianne at Place de la Republique with fireworks. France’s national symbol, Marianne, stands for liberty, reason, and republican principles.
Place de la Republique designer Baptiste Fourastié, 23, stated: “Neither the polls nor we were expecting it. We are pleased that the French people were able to stop the far right once more.”
But if the next government is not impenetrable, he fears that the right will gain ground and win again.
“It will be difficult with a hung parliament, but better than if it was the far right (ahead),” Fourastié stated.
