France faced an ecstatic Marine Le Pen on Monday after its party’s far-right candidates shocked the political establishment and helped oust President Emanuel Macron’s centrist alliance from a majority in parliament. Surprising breakthrough for far-right – along with growing support for hard-left candidates – undermines Macron’s leadership, threatens plans to raise retirement age, cut taxes, reshape France’s political landscape . Le Pen’s National Rally party did not win the parliamentary elections, which ended in two rounds on Sunday. But he secured more than 10 times the seats he won five years ago. It is a result he has long dreamed of, the result of more than a decade of grassroots work to attract disillusioned working-class voters and rid his party of its racist, anti-Semitic image, so that it is considered a party like everything else. One, he hopes, that could rule France one day. Only in April did Le Pen lose the presidential election to Macron. But now it was her turn to rejoice, knowing that she could use the seats in the National Assembly to overturn Macron’s domestic agenda and even provoke a vote of no confidence. Shining with pride, he described the result as a “historic victory” and a “seismic event” in French politics. Anti-racist groups quickly sounded the alarm about its anti-immigration, anti-Muslim agenda. The Le Pen National Rally received 89 seats in the 577-member parliament, out of a total of eight. On the other side of the political spectrum, the left-wing Nupes coalition, led by the hardline Jean-Luc Melenchon, won 131 seats to become the main opposition force. The Macron Alliance Together! won 245 seats – but lost 44 seats from the majority in the National Assembly, the most powerful parliament in the French parliament. Strong support for political extremists reflects a frustration with Macron’s leadership that first erupted in 2018 with the yellow vest movement against perceived financial injustice and periodically reappears among those who see him as overly business-minded, arrogant or deaf. in everyday worries. The strong performance of both Le Pen’s National Coalition and Melanson’s coalition – consisting of the hard-line France Unbowed party as well as the Socialists, Greens and Communists – will make it difficult for Macron to implement the re-elected agenda. in May, including tax cuts and raising France ‘s retirement age from 62 to 65. “Macron is the president of the minority now,” Le Pen said Monday in Henin-Beaumont, her stronghold in northern France. “His retirement plan is buried.” He said the National Coalition would seek to chair parliament’s strong economic committee. The National Coalition, formerly known as the National Front, has been a political force in France for decades. However, the two-round voting system has so far prevented her from achieving high scores in the parliamentary elections. Political analyst Brice Teinturier, deputy director general of the Ipsos polling institute, told France Inter radio that Sunday’s result “means that the National Rally is being” institutionalized “. Le Pen lost to Macron in April with 41.5% of the vote against 58.5% – the highest level of support in its three attempts to become leader of France. Since taking over the party in 2011, Le Pen has worked to eliminate the stigma of the National Front under the leadership of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has been repeatedly convicted of racism and anti-Semitism. Moderating some of its views and rhetoric, it sought to move the party from a protest movement to an opposition force believed to be in power. He even changed the name of the party, which critics call a ploy to expose its dark past. The Le Pen National Coalition now has enough lawmakers to form a formal group in the National Assembly and seek seats on parliamentary committees, including those focusing on defense and foreign policy. In addition, the National Rally party now has enough seats – more than 58 – to provoke a motion of censure against the government that could lead to a vote of censure. The new Assembly will be operational next week. Meanwhile, France is heading for a government reshuffle. Three ministers – out of 15 who were candidates – lost the election and will have to resign according to the rules set by Macron. The president could also use the reshuffle to offer some jobs in government to new potential allies. Macron himself has not yet commented on the election results. His government will still have the ability to govern, but only through negotiations with lawmakers. The centrists could try to negotiate on a case-by-case basis with lawmakers from the center-left and the Conservative Party, with the aim of preventing opposition lawmakers from being large enough to reject the proposed measures. The government could also occasionally use a special measure provided by the French Constitution to pass a law without a vote. Macron’s diplomatic policies are not expected to be affected in the near future, including France’s strong support for Ukraine. According to the French Constitution, Macron retains substantial powers in foreign policy, European affairs and defense, regardless of the difficulties his alliance may face in parliament. Teinturier, a political analyst, said the new composition of the National Assembly reflected “the desire of the French people to rebalance” the results of the presidential election. “There was clearly a will not to give all the powers and the direct majority to Emanuel Macron and to impose some restrictions, some kind of supervised placement,” he said. —— Surk reported from Nice. Alexander Turnbull and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this exhibition.
