According to the results of the second round of early parliamentary elections in France, the alliance of left parties, “New Popular Front,” has won. The second place went to the pro-presidential bloc of centrist parties. Instead, the right-wing populist National Rally and its allies came in third after a clear victory in the first round.
Left-wing New Popular Front’s victory
According to the French Ministry of the Interior, the left-wing New Popular Front won 182 seats in the National Assembly, and Emmanuel Macron’s pro-presidential bloc, “Together,” received 168, France 24 reported. The far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen and her allies will have 143 seats.
Therefore, the left-wing New Popular Front has the biggest number of seats, but it will fall short of the 289 needed to secure a majority in the National Assembly.
The far-right won a landslide victory in the first round and hoped to gain a majority in the French parliament, with Jordan Bardella hoping to lead the government. However, the race ended in failure for the far right.
Reaction of political leaders
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unconquered, which is part of the winning alliance of the left parties, has already said that President Emmanuel Macron should invite the New Popular Front to govern the country.
The head of Macron’s party, Stephane Sejourne, said he was ready to work with the main parties but ruled out any agreement with Melenchon’s political party. Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe also ruled out any deal with the far-left.
Under these circumstances, there are several possible scenarios for the formation of a new government: the left alliance could lead to a minority government; Macron’s bloc could try to form a coalition with part of the left bloc, excluding the far left, and the Republicans.
According to French political analysts, it is possible that the future parliamentary coalition (which needs to include at least 289 seats) will be center-left and pro-presidential.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he would wait until the new parliament finds some “structure” to decide what his next step will be.
Next steps
The French constitution says the president decides who to ask to form a government. But the selected candidate faces a confidence vote in the National Assembly.
The new parliament will convene for 15 days on July 18. This means Macron needs to name a politician who can win a majority of lawmakers and is acceptable to at least the left and the centrists.
Under the constitution, the president cannot call new parliamentary elections for another 12 months.
The official results were sensational, as recent polls showed that the National Rally, even if it did not win an absolute majority, would still become the party with the largest representation in parliament.
In the first round, the National Union and its allies won the most votes, with a significant margin over the pro-presidential bloc “Together.”.
Subsequently, the pro-presidential, centrist bloc of parties “Together” and the left-wing alliance “New Popular Front” agreed on a tactical alliance and withdrew their candidates from the second round of elections, leaving one candidate in the race against Le Pen’s National Rally representative to prevent the far right from winning.
