The result of Sunday’s second round of voting plunged French politics into turmoil, raising the prospect of a paralyzed legislature or messy coalitions with Macron forced to reach out to new allies. The 44-year-old Macron is now in danger of breaking away from internal problems as he seeks to play a leading role in ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as a key politician in the EU. Macron’s “Together” coalition will continue to be the largest party in the next National Assembly. However, with 245 seats, according to the full results of the Ministry of Interior announced in the early hours of Monday, it is very low from the 289 seats required for a majority in the 577-member parliament. The far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, has made huge gains and will send 89 deputies to the new parliament, up from eight in the previous parliament, making it the largest right-wing force in parliament over the traditional right-wing Republicans (LR). Get the Times of Israel Daily E-mail and never miss our top stories By registering, you agree to the terms Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the presidential election, was re-elected to parliament in her stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont in northern France. “Macron’s adventure has come to an end,” Le Pen said. The group of deputies of the National Coalition “will be by far the largest in the history of our political family”. The leader of the far-right French Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen, hugs one of her supporters as she arrives to deliver a speech following the first results of the parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, on June 19, 2022. (Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP) Incumbent National Rally President Jordan Bardella compared his party’s performance to a “tsunami”. “The message tonight is that the French have made Emanuel Macron a minority president,” he told TF1. For years, Lepen tried to distance herself from the anti-Semitic legacy of her group and her father’s politics, with mixed success. In 2017, Le Pen faced criticism for denying that France was responsible for its role in gathering French Jews for deportation to Nazi death camps. The National Front has made significant electoral gains since Le Pen became its leader in 2011, succeeding her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a Holocaust revisionist and outspoken anti-Semitic nationalist. The party supports secession from the European Union, the cessation of immigration from Muslim countries and the imposition of restrictions on religious freedom, as well as harsh punishments for violence and incitement. Marin Lepen ousted her father from the party in 2015 after he was convicted of inciting racial hatred against Jews. (He suggested a Jewish singer criticizing the party “put it in the oven.”) He has expelled several party members for anti-Semitic rhetoric. The new left-wing coalition NUPES under the 70-year-old hardline leftist Jean-Luc Melanson won 135 seats, according to a count of the French Agency based on the results published by the ministry. The coalition, formed in May following the split of the left in the April presidential election, brings together Socialists, the hard left, Communists and Greens. Melanson described Sunday’s results as “above all an electoral failure” for Macron. “The destruction of the presidential party is complete and there will be no majority,” he told parliament, praising his supporters in Paris. A prominent MP from Melanson’s party, Alexis Corbier, said the result meant that Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age in France to 65 had “sunk”. NUPES left-wing coalition leader Jean-Luc Melenchon delivers a speech after the first results of the parliamentary elections in Paris on June 19, 2022. – (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
Failure for Macron
“This situation is a danger to our country, given the challenges we have to face,” said Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne in a televised statement, pledging: “We will work from tomorrow to build a working majority.” The result severely tarnished Macron’s victory in the April presidential election, when he defeated the far right and became the first French president to win a second term in more than two decades. “It’s a turning point for the image of the undefeated,” said Bruno Cautres, a researcher at the PoE Center for Political Science Research. The Le Monde headline on its website read: “Macron faces political paralysis” Macron hoped to seal his second term with an ambitious program of tax cuts, welfare reform and raising the retirement age. All this is now in question. “This will complicate the reforms. It will be much more difficult to govern,” said Dominique Rousseau, a law professor at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris. “The slap in the face,” the headline read in the Monday edition of Left Liberation, adding that the results represented a “fall” in Macron’s rule. There could now be weeks of political stalemate as the president seeks to reach out to new parties. The most likely option would be an alliance with the Republicans, the traditional party of the French right, which has 61 deputies. However, LR president Christian Jacobs made it clear that there would be no easy co-operation, saying his party intended to “remain in opposition”. French President Emmanuel Macron is waving as he leaves after voting in the second round of the French parliamentary elections at a polling station in Le Touquet, in northern France, on June 19, 2022. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire denied that France would be ungovernable, but acknowledged that “it would take a lot of imagination” from the ruling party in an “unprecedented situation”. Macron had called on voters to hand over a “solid majority” to his coalition last week, adding that “nothing could be worse than adding French disorder to global disorder.” In another blow, key election-seeking ministers were to lose their jobs under a contract that would require them to resign if they failed to win seats. Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon, Shipping Minister Justine Benin and Environment Minister Amelie de Montchalin – a pillar of Macron’s administration in recent years – have all lost and will now leave the government. Macron’s two other close allies, Parliament Speaker Richard Ferrand and former Interior Minister Christophe Castagner, both acknowledged defeat in the race for their seats. On a rare point of good news for the president, European Minister Clement Beaune and Public Services Minister Stanislas Guerini – both new pillars of his party – have won tough battles for their seats. On the left, Rachel Keke, a former cleaner who campaigned for better working conditions at her hotel, was also elected, defeating former Macron Sports Minister Roxana Maratsineanu.
