Macron’s central Ensemble coalition, which wants to raise the retirement age and further deepen EU integration, was set to end up with more seats in Sunday’s election. But that was far less than the absolute majority required for parliamentary scrutiny, initial forecasts and first results showed. A broad left-wing alliance was to be the largest opposition group, while the far right recorded record victories and the Conservatives were likely to become kings. Finance Minister Bruno Lemerre described the result as a “democratic shock” and added that if other blocs did not co-operate, “this would hamper our ability to reform and protect the French”. A suspended parliament will require a degree of power-sharing and compromises between parties that have had no experience in France for decades. Macron could eventually call early elections if there is a legal impasse. French President Emmanuel Macron leaves a polling station in Le Touquet in northern France on Sunday. (Michel Spingler / The Associated Press) There is no set scenario in France for how things will turn out now. The last time a newly elected president failed to win an absolute majority in a parliamentary election was in 1988. “The result is a danger to our country in the face of the challenges we face,” said Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne, adding that from Monday onwards, Macron’s camp would work to find alliances. Macron could eventually call early elections if there is a legal impasse. “The collapse of the presidential party is complete and there is no clear majority,” hardline left-wing veteran Jean-Luc Melanson told cheering supporters. The left-wing Liberation newspaper called the result a “slap in the face” for Macron and the financial newspaper Les Echos said it was an “earthquake”.
Left, far right gains
United behind Mélenchon, the left-wing parties were to triple their score in the last parliamentary elections of 2017. In another major change for French politics, far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party could triple the number of MPs to 90-95, according to initial forecasts. This would be the largest representation of the party in the assembly. The leader of the far-right party, Marine Le Pen, is voting on Sunday at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, in northern France. (Denis Charlet / AFP / Getty Images) Initial forecasts by Ifop, OpinionWay, Elabe and Ipsos polls showed Macron’s Ensemble winning 210-240 seats, Nupes securing 141-188 and Les Républicains 60-75. Macron became the first French president in two decades to win a second term in April as voters rallied to keep the far right out of power. But seen as out of touch by many voters, he presides over a deeply frustrated and divided country where support for populist parties on the right and left has grown. Its ability to pursue further reform of the eurozone’s second-largest economy depends on the support for its policies by moderates outside its alliance, both right and left.
Alliances?
Macron and his allies must now decide whether to seek an alliance with the conservative Les Républicains, who came fourth, or to run a minority government that will have to negotiate laws with other parties on a case-by-case basis. “There are moderates in the seats, on the right, on the left. There are moderate Socialists and there are people on the right who, perhaps by law, will be on our side,” said government spokeswoman Olivia Gregoire. The Les Républicains platform is more compatible with the Ensemble than other parties. The two together have a chance of an absolute majority in the final results, something that requires at least 289 seats in the lower house. Workers empty a ballot box at a polling station in Cambrai on Sunday. (Pascal Rossignol / Reuters) Christian Jacob, leader of Les Républicains, said his party would remain in opposition but would be “constructive”, proposing agreements on a case-by-case basis rather than a coalition agreement. Former National Assembly leader Richard Ferrand and Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon have lost their seats in two major defeats for Macron’s camp. Macron had called for a strong mandate during a bitter campaign in the wake of a war on the eastern fringe of Europe that has tightened food and energy supplies and sent inflation soaring, eroding household budgets. Hard-line leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon surrenders in Paris on Sunday after initial results showed gains for his parliamentary bloc. (Michel Euler / The Associated Press) “Nothing could be worse than adding French disorder to world disorder,” the president said before the second round. Mélenchon’s Nupes Alliance campaigned for a freeze on commodity prices, a reduction in the retirement age, a reduction in inheritance and a ban on companies paying dividends on dismissal. Melanson also calls for disobedience to the European Union.
