Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority after major election gains by a newly formed left-wing alliance and the far right, in a stunning blow to his plans for major second term reform.
The result threw French politics into turmoil, raising the prospect of a paralysed legislature or messy coalitions, with Macron forced to reach out to new allies.
Macron’s Together coalition was on course to be the biggest party in the next National Assembly, but with 200-260 seats it will be short of the 289 seats needed for a majority, according to a range of projections by five French polling firms after the second round.
“Of course, it’s a first place that is disappointing,” government spokeswoman Olivia Gregoire told BFM television. “We’re lower than we would have hoped.”
The outcome severely tarnished Macron’s April presidential election victory when he defeated the far-right to be the first French president to win a second term in over two decades.
The new left-wing coalition NUPES under 70-year-old hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon was on course to win 149-200 seats, according to projections.
The coalition, formed last month after the left splintered for April’s presidential elections, brings together Socialists, the hard left, Communists and greens.
The left only had 60 seats in the outgoing parliament, meaning they could triple their representation.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party was also on track for huge gains after having only eight seats in the outgoing parliament.
It was due to send 60-102 MPs to the new parliament, according to projections.
Macron, 44, had hoped to stamp his second term with an ambitious programme of tax cuts, welfare reform and raising the retirement age that is now in question.
“This will complicate the reforms… It will be much more difficult to govern,” said Dominique Rousseau, professor of law at Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne University.
As president, Macron retains control over foreign policy, with the 44-year-old seeking to play a prominent role in putting an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Melenchon called Sunday’s results “above all an electoral failure” for Macron. “The rout of the presidential party is total and there will be no majority,” in parliament, he told cheering supporters in Paris. Reuters
